In the mist lived a king
by moonlightdreamer1
Summary: Based around the idea of Branch being a King of another far away kingdom. This is a reissuing of this story due to a request.
1. Chapter 1

Since everyone liked the Grey King and Cursed grey I decided to try something else. It is again to do with Branch being a King from a different kind of trolls. I've used the legends of King Arthur and Lord of the rings as inspiration here, I hope you will all enjoy this story. It may turn out to be quiet a long one…Anyways warnings of angst, darkness, romance and fluff. I don't own anything here. I have dyslexia so please be nice. Please note I will do my best to describe the robes but so you all know they are based on those worn by elves in lord of the rings films. I don't often try to write song lyrics so if the ones here are not very good I can only say sorry and I tried.

In the Mist lived a King

Chapter one:

All trolls know the legend, it's been told for generations ask any troll child and they can all faithfully recite the opening line of the old story. In the mist lived a King…What most versions of the story forgot or left out was the next part of that line which went and he was blessed with wings in shades of the sky at daytime and the deepest sapphire of night. This story is about a legend which was not really a legend it was in fact the truth but it was a truth which had been long forgotten.

Branch had been helping Poppy with the younger trolls when one of them had thrown a ball it had missed the child they had been aiming for and hit the blue troll square in the back. Branch cried out in pain, there was a ripping sound and the whole pod turned to stair as wings opened out from his back they were of sky blue feathers edged with sapphire blue. The now shirtless blue troll was down on his knees panting hard, he screamed again, a force of some kind rippled out from him opening up the pod and releasing blue feathers into the air which vanished into blue sparkles. Former King Peppy and many other trolls were drawn to the pod, the old King could hardly believe the sight before him.

Slowly Branch stood, his wings moved to help him to balance, the blue troll looked over his shoulder at them and frowned with confusion. Poppy came dashing over to him, she threw her arms round Branch and held him tightly happy to see that he was alright despite this change. Smiling softly the now winged troll returned the embrace his wings moving slightly to curl round them too. The pink troll looked round at them, she reached out with one hand and touched a wing gently it gave a small twitch but that was all. Peppy crossed the pods floor to his daughter, he had been willing to let Branch and his daughter to be together until now but for the old troll wings and whatever that force had been they had all felt were simply too much for him. Peppy pulled Poppy out of Branch's arms, he pushed his daughter behind him and then pointed at the blue troll. "Take what you need and get out of here freak!"

Branch jerked back as though the words where blows, he ran from the pod and out into the troll tree his new wings carefully flattening themselves against his back out of the way. No one could speak they couldn't believe what Peppy had just done to the hero of their clan and the one to save his daughter. Poppy tried to tug herself out of her father's grip but he wouldn't let go instead he turned on her furry burning in his eyes. "You are not going after him. Poppy Branch had wings! Wings for troll's sakes! And what was power we all felt he isn't normal!"

"But I love him! No matter what Branch is still Branch!" At last Poppy manage to tug herself free of her father's grasp, she dashed into the troll tree closely followed by the snack pack but by the time she had made it to the pod of the blue troll he was not there.

"BRANCH!" Poppy screamed but there was no answer, the Queen went down onto her knees, she wrapped her arms round herself and began to sob hard. As she wept Poppy turned grey from the bottom up, the snack pack gathered round their friend, they all hugged her hard trying to offer some form of comfort to the clearly heartbroken young Queen, but they knew that in reality there was little they could do to ease Poppy's suffering.

As Peppy entered the pod, he took one look at his grey child being held by her friends and knew he really had been extremely foolish. "Oh Poppy…"

The grey troll looked up at her father and as her gaze fell on him, it felt to the old troll as though she was throwing daggers into his heart. After a few moments of silence Poppy addressed her father in a voice so cold it froze his blood. "Go away and leave me alone father." Slowly the snack pack released their friend, the grey troll stood, she walked to Branch's bed climbed into it and drew the blue bedclothes over her with her back firmly turned to the rest of the room. The snack pack all stood, they then turned to glare at their old King who couldn't even look at them, he was so ashamed of himself and his actions.

At first no one knew what to do or say after all that had happened, eventually though Suki spoke to the rest of the snack pack. "We need to go after Branch…"

There were murmurs of agreement to this statement, then Cooper voiced the question all of the others were thinking. "But were do winged trolls even come from?"

Silence greeted this question for the longest time until a very old voice spoke up from behind them. "In the mist lived a King and he was blessed with wings in shades of the sky at daytime and the deepest sapphire of night." The snack pack turned to look at old Moss a very old, green male troll as he entered the pod with the aid of his walking stick.

"But that's just a story." Guy Diamond said to him with wide eyes even as Satin helped the old troll across the room and into a chair.

Moss shook his head at the glittering troll. "No Guy Diamond it is not a story, it is in fact a legend but it is a legend about the truth. The King of the Mist islands was lost to his people a long time ago, but as you will know from the stories it was always said he would return to those lands…Now how did that part of the story go…?"

"The King of the Mist would return to the lands of his ancestors broken of heart and scared of soul. There in the mist he will mourn the loss of his soul mate and true love until he uses the mist to swallow the memories of the pain in his heart and numb the aching of the scar on his soul. Then the great King known as the great healing King will rule the island of Mists, and so shall his heirs after him until time does end." Peppy said very softly causing the younger trolls to turn and look at him. "What have I done?" The old King asked no one in particular as he sank down to sit onto the floor of the pod.

These words caused another silence to hang over the pod. "So where are the islands of the Mist?" Suki eventually asked the older two trolls.

It was Moss who answered this question from the DJ. "They are islands far to the west and no easy place for any troll to reach, this is because no troll really knows were in the west they are. Some stories say they lay beyond the setting sun and others that the mist guards them preventing any who do not have Mist blood from finding them. One thing is for sure Queen Poppy will never get her true colours back until Branch is returned to her."

"I know this is probably a stupid question but how is Branch the King of the Mist lands?" Biggie asked the older troll with confusion.

The old green troll smiled at the large troll. "It is not a stupid question Biggie. Rosiepuff is the answer to that question, she was a Mist islander but spent her whole life hiding her wings because she fell in love with Branch's grandfather. I was one of the few trolls to know she had the royal blue wings which have always marked out those of the royal line. Rosiepuff knew Branch would inherit the powers of the Mist royals, it always breeds true into the eldest child no matter who their mate in life is. Poor Branch he lost all his family before anyone could tell him what was coming…Getting back his true colours must have woken his powers and they were just waiting for a reason to show themselves, which is exactly what happened today."

"Is there nothing we can do…?" Suki asked the old troll softly.

Moss looked thoughtful for a long while and then answered this question. "There is only one thing I can suggest but it many result in nothing. The old archives here in the troll tree might contain something which will help you to be able to find Branch."

"Well then let's go and see what we can find." Suki said rousing the rest of the members of the snack pack, they gave cheers of agreement eager to see if they could find a way to help Poppy. Suki went over to the grey Queen on her bed, she touched her shoulder gently and said very softly to her friend. "We will find a way to bring Branch back to you, no matter how long it takes or what we have to do to achieve it."

With this said the seven friends with Moss, left the pod, then with the old green troll as their guide the snack pack made their way into archives. Once they were there they quickly started to search through everything there for anything they could find on the Mist Island and it's king. Peppy however staid with his daughter in Branch's pod, but no matter what he said or did Poppy refused to look at her father or talk to him, not that the old King could blame her. Over the next few days Poppy would only leave Branch's pod to do her duty as Queen, the rest of the time she could be found curled up in his bed. It was painful for all of the trolls to see the state of now grey troll, but they refused to let themselves also turn grey because they knew it would hurt their Queen even more if this were to happen to them because of her.

The snack pack spent days, then weeks slowly but methodically going through the archives looking for anything about the Mist islands and the King, Moss and Peppy were helping the friends with their search as and when they could. So far though their search was proving fruitless, anything which they did discover in the archives only told them what they already knew about the King of the Mist and the islands themselves. The snack pack still held out hope that somewhere in the vast archive, amongst the hundreds of thousands of books and papers there would be the information that they were desperate to find. With the more time that passed the worse Poppy seemed to get, she was becoming even more grey than before and more lethargic. This meant that Peppy was having to take back over ruling the trolls from his daughter and his concern as well as his feelings of guilt over the state of Poppy was growing with the time that passed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

Branch had flown for days, he had been heading west, the blue troll didn't know how he knew this was the way he needed to go but deep inside Branch knew that he was going in the right way. Along the way the blue troll found places to rest that were devoid of any other trolls as he didn't want them to see his wings and call him a freak as Peppy had. After a week of flying Branch landed on the shore of a new land and he felt strangely as though he had come home. The blue troll noticed a low mist hanging over the land, on an instinct he didn't understand Branch extended his hand out towards the mist, it curled up towards his fingers and glowed blue for a moment then it stopped. The blue troll frowned for a moment before setting off on foot to see if he could find a village or some other form of settlement. It didn't take Branch long to find a coastal troll village, he instantly noticed that these troll's didn't live in pods but in small cottages and he also noticed that all of these trolls had wings like him but none of them were blue they were all white. The blue troll looked over his shoulder at his blue wings, much to his surprise as he stared at them wishing they were white they started to change colour to white. Now his wings fitted in Branch made his way into the village, many of the locals turned to stare at the stranger in their midst and eventually three of the elders of the village approached him. "Were have you come from and who are you?" One of the elders asked him, this white troll with sky blue grey streaked hair was obviously not afraid of Branch harming him he was more in fact more curious about the stranger.

"I am Branch, I have no family left and wanted to find somewhere to belong."

As he said this the blue eyes of the older troll softened slightly. "I see, do you have any skills?"

"I know the wild, I know what can heal and what can harm."

This old troll turned to another elder, this troll had a grey blue body and white hair, the white troll addressed him. "Well Aspen you said you needed someone to train to take over from you as the village healer it would appear that the fates have provided you with the one."

Aspen smiled at Branch and said. "In deed this does appear to be the case, the oracle of the Mist be praised. Would you like to learn to be a healer young one?"

"I would, I think it would be a career which would suite me."

"Good then let us begin." Aspen guided Branch back to his home to one side of the village.

The blue troll soon discovered that the Mist trolls had no fear of others of their own kind because like the happy trolls he had left behind they didn't fight with their own kind, he also found out that he wasn't the first troll like himself which had come from the out of the mist after they had lost their family in order to find other Mist trolls to dwell with. There where even special previsions made in law, as well at Mist troll settlements so that such trolls could find a life for themselves and be useful to the community they joined. The blue troll was given new clothing after he explained what he was wearing he had made himself, Branch had to admit he liked his new clothing, all of the clothing was in blue made of a sturdy material and consisted of a high necked top open at the front with a slight v which had long tight sleeves, a pair of trousers and over this was worn a robe which fell to his knees, it was fastened with buttons and had a wide sash like belt at the waist.

Aspen had found out over the two months which had passed since Branch had arrived at their village that his new student was extremely observant, the blue troll learnt well, he also shared his own knowledge with the older troll and the two trolls soon fell into a relationship which was like that of a grandson and grandfather. Aspen had discovered that Branch had never known his mother and father, he had been raised by his grandma who had died when he was only six. The grey blue troll found it very sad to hear of this poor troll's history, Branch told him that after he lost his grandma he had lived on his own for the longest time, until at last he had felt it was time to find other trolls to live with. Aspen was glad that he had chosen to do so, as the old healer was sure that Branch was going to make a fine village healer. There were times when Aspen felt that that there were things his new student wasn't telling him, but to be honest the old troll wasn't to surprised that Branch might be doing so he had after all been living on his own for a long time and every troll had secrets they felt they needed to keep. Aspen just hoped that at some point in the future Branch would feel ready to tell him whatever it was he felt he had to hide.

The blue troll learnt as much as he could as quietly as he could about the Mist islands and the Mist island trolls. Branch had discovered that their King had died long ago but it was known that he'd had a daughter from his marriage who had vanished, the blue troll also found out that the heir to the throne of the Mist islands had the two tone blue wings that he had himself. Realising that he was most likely the King of the Mist islands disturbed Branch slightly, the blue troll decided that he had no intention of anyone discovering he was the King of the Mist trolls, after all as far as Branch could see the Mist trolls didn't need their King and rather than force onto them a King they didn't need or want he would continue to live his life here in this peaceful village.

Branch had quickly noticed that he could control the Mist of the islands, the blue troll kept this ability to himself because he hadn't seen any other Mist troll using the mist in the same way he could. Branch made sure to practice with his ability, but the blue troll always made sure that when he did so that he was far away from the village and in a place in the forests around the edge of the forest where none of the other trolls was likely to ever spot him doing so. Branch was soon able to shape the mist into various shapes, he could use it to grab hold of thins and bring them to him. The blue troll was already aware that he could colour the mist blue, after a while he also started to make it turn other colours and form bigger and more complex shapes out of the mist.

As the winter drew in the old healer was very glad to have his student, they dealt with all of the ailments winter brought to the village and there were many of them. When midwinter festival came along, the two trolls exchanged gifts the blue troll gifted Aspen with new note books for him to use on his rounds and a new leather satchel to carry all his healer's equipment in. The grey blue troll looked up from his present and at his student. "Thank you these are perfect."

Branch smiled at him widely. "Good I am glad you like them."

"This is your gift." Aspen said handing it over to the blue troll, Branch opened his gift to reveal a hand harp with music.

"Oh…It's beautiful…But I have no idea how to play."

"Well I do I'm hoping you will be willing to let me teach you."

The blue troll grinned at Aspen. "I'd like that."

"Good then it's decided. Now are you going to go to the midwinter party?"

"Yes, I am."

Aspen smiled at his pupil glad to hear that he was going to be joining in with the local festivities to celebrate the season. Sure, enough on the night of the midwinter party Branch went along with Aspen and when the music began the blue troll joined in dancing. After much persuading from his teacher Branch unveiled his beautiful singing voice for the first time and Aspen was sure that right then in that moment all of the single trolls of the village fell in love with Branch. After this the blue troll didn't lack partners to dance with for the rest of the night, Branch had to admit that he hadn't enjoyed himself like this for a very long time, it felt good to him to have some fun after all that had happened to him in the time that had passed.

The grey blue troll was unsurprised to find that after the midwinter festival lots of the single trolls in the village started to try and win Branch for their own. The blue troll was always kind towards them, but he was firm in his refusal to enter into any romantic relationship at this time. Aspen was a little surprised by his pupil's reaction to all of this, but he didn't feel as though he should ask why Branch didn't want to enter into a romantic relationship at this time, instead Aspen just let the blue troll carry on with learning to be a healer as Branch seemed more than happy to be doing just this. The older healer spent time after the midwinter festive making his pupil take time out from his studying to learn to play the hand harp, in time this turned out to be something that bother Branch and Aspen enjoyed to do in the evenings.

As spring started to set in Aspen was well pleased with his student's progress, in fact the old healer felt that Branch didn't really deserve the title of student any more. So after talking to the other elders of the village about his pupils progress, Aspen settled the blue troll down one evening and then said to him. "Branch the other village elders and I are well pleased with your progress, in fact we have decided that you no longer need to be called my student but are now qualified enough to be called a healer in your own right. I shall of course write to the council of healers with all my notes on your work as I must do but I am sure they will issue you a certificate of a full healer too."

"You really think I am ready?" Branch asked him with wide eyes.

"Yes, you already knew a lot about healing when we began and in fact in some areas you knew even more than I did. Your knowledge is now far more rounded and in reality your practical skills can only really become better through experience. Now as a healer you are entitled to your own cottage in the village, but I hope that as I have no family and you have none either you would like to stay with me here in my cottage."

"I would like that very much Aspen, I've come to see you as a grandfather figure to me."

"I am glad to hear you say that…I would be honoured to be considered your grandfather and I am happy to call you my grandson."

Branch smiled at Aspen. "Well then grandfather I look forward to seeing what the council of healers have to say."

So it was that the two male trolls settled down together in the same cottage and the two healers took care of the village side by side. A few months after this the blue troll had received his letter from the council of healers confirming his acceptance as a full healer and with the letter came his guild certificate to show he was now a fully qualified healer. Soon Branch was as well respected in the village as Aspen was, still though the blue troll didn't appear to want to pick out a troll to settle down with, a lot of the village trolls put the fact that Branch didn't want to choose any one troll to be with down to the fact that he was still quiet young and had a busy career. The blue troll was more than happy to let all of the trolls in the village think that this was the reason he wasn't yet willing to enter into a romantic relationship at this time. Branch knew that at some point he would have to put Poppy behind him and find a new troll to love but the blue troll knew that the time hadn't come for him yet.

Branch's days were filled with, playing his hand harp, gathering of medicinal plants, preparing them, making various cures and seeing to the villager's ailments be they large or small. The blue troll with Aspen's urgings started to send papers about some of his medicinal discoveries to the main healer's council so that they could after testing be added to the healing books. The blue troll was very proud when several of his discoveries were found by the main healer's council to have enough validity to be added to the healing books for future healers to refer to. The blue troll was picking up how to play his hand harp well, he was learning at a reasonable pace and the healer was very much enjoying his lessons from Aspen. As Branch's playing improved he started to sing as he played, Aspen enjoyed listening to him and watching the blue troll play his instrument. Branch also started to purchase music paper, so that he could try to compose music of his own, the blue troll found writing music hard work but therapeutic as it allowed him to express all of the feelings he kept hidden inside himself.

One morning in midspring when he woke Branch could feel that something wasn't right, he got out of bed, quickly dressed and then made his way down stairs into the cottage. There was a thicker than normal mist hanging over the village, Aspen was already up, the blue troll looked to the him and said softly. "What is happening?"

"Raiders boats have been spotted." Aspen told him sadness clear in his voice as he spoke.

"Raiders?" Branch asked.

Knowing that the blue troll had come from the forests of the island the older grey blue troll explained to him. "Yes, the raiders started to come here to the islands shortly after the heir of the last King vanished…Since we don't have our rulers power over the mist to protect us the Mist islands have become rich pickings for them."

"I see."

"When they come to our villages, we bring them out items of value and they take them. As long as they don't think we are hiding anything more valuable they will just take it and leave rather than cause us any trouble." Branch didn't say anything to this, he looked out into the mist outside the blue troll could see something in the flowing mist, he couldn't really see what it was exactly but Branch felt quite sure that it was there because of him and the raiders. Noticing the blue troll's interest in the thicker mist in the village today Aspen, looked at Branch and said to him. "There is a lot of mist around today, I'll admit that I haven't seen it like this since I my childhood."

"Oh?" Branch asked him curiously.

Aspen gave him a nod. "Yes, it would do this when the last King was alive…Did your family ever get the chance to tell you about the beast in the mist or how the rulers of our land came to have their power over the mist?" The blue troll gave him a sad nod, Aspen gestured to a chair, they settled down together and the older troll began to tell Branch when he stories. "The story goes that the god of the sky fell in love with the goddess of the sea, and she with him, their love was so strong and so true that it produced a child. This child was a blue winged, he was as immortal as they were but his powers were unknown to begin with, his parent's names his Whisper. Then one day a great mist beast began to trouble the mortals of the land, no hero could defeat it, no immortal could tame it and then Whisper stepped forward. The immortal child of the sky and the ocean was just that only a child, yet the beast bowed down to him and accepted his mastery of it and thus he became the god of the Mist. When Whisper grew to be an adult he fell in love with the princess of these islands, she with him too, their love was true and Whisper gave up his immortality to marry her. Whisper and the one he loved were told by the King and Queen of the immortals that their first born child and every first born child of their line would be born with the blue wings of Whisper, the ability to control the mist as well as pacify the beast within the mist. The mist came to haunt the islands after that day and the princess and the other islanders were gifted with white wings to show they were his people."

The blue troll stood next to him quietly for a few moments then said. "What an amazing story, do you think the beast in the mist really exists?"

"I like to think so…I know that one day the oracle of the Mist will be right and our King will come back to us. We need him more than he can ever know…After all the King is the protector of our lands."

Branch had never considered that the fact that the King of the Mist might be needed or wanted by the trolls of the Mist islands. A loud female scream drew the attention of the two trolls, Branch didn't think twice he raced out of the cottage and ran towards the main square of the village. As he came into the square the blue troll noticed the group of raiders, one of them had hold of one of the young women of the village, this red troll was pulling her away from her parents they were both screaming and trying to hold onto their daughter. As Branch sore this a furry filled him, a furry the likes of which the blue troll had never ever felt before in all his life and right in that moment Branch didn't care if anyone knew he was the King of the Mist, all he cared about was that these horrible raiders were trying to hurt trolls who had been nothing but kind to him. The blue troll halted from his run, he let out a roar of pure furry, it was loudly echoed by something behind him, everything in the village square froze and Branch didn't need to look behind him he knew the mist beast was right behind him.

Branch opened up his wings, he let the white fade from them, he heard the gasps of the others around him as their true two tone blue colour of his wings was shown to them all, but the blue troll ignored the villagers. Branch focused instead on the edges of large bat like wings he could see in the periphery of his vision and then a large draconic head came down over his left shoulder. Branch reached out he placed his hand to the mist to find though cold the creature was quite solid, the blue troll gently stroked along its head and he in that moment knew without words the beast would never hurt him as it knew exactly what he was. "Let her go." Branch said in low deadly tones to the raider.

Quickly the red troll released the village lass who ran straight to her parents, several of the smarter raiders were already backing away from Branch and one of them choked out. "The Mist King."

The red troll raider snorted and said dismissively. "There are no more Mist Kings they all died, this is just some sort of ruse to prevent us taking what we want." The red raider started towards Branch.

The blue troll smiled, but it was a cool deadly smile, the raider was caught hold of by swirling tendrils of mist and quickly found out that they held him securely in place. Branch walked towards him, the mist beast at his side, he glared at the red troll and spoke to him in low deadly tones. "The mist and the mist beast obeys me, I have the blue wings of two tones, I am the Mist King! You will go back to your people and tell them I have returned as was foretold by the oracle. Tell them that if they come back to my islands to cause harm to me or my people I will know it from the mist and then they will feel all of my fury." Branch stepped back from the red raider the mist released him, the raider turned he fled with the others raiders not far behind him. The blue troll followed them to the shore, he watched them return to their boats, once the raiders were back on board Branch roared again and the mist beasts much louder roar joined his echoing out over the water. The ships quickly started to row away from the islands, the Mist island King watched them until he was happy they were gone and then set off back to town knowing now his life had changed forever.


	3. Chapter 3

(Small note here, the music of the Mist islands is based on traditional, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and British folk music fused together.)

Chapter three:

Back at the troll tree Branch had left behind a few months had now passed and the snack pack were not even half way through the archives, still as yet they had found nothing on the Mist King or the islands that they didn't already know. Poppy was still as grey as ever, she was exactly the same way Branch had been and it pained all of the trolls of the troll tree a lot to see their young Queen like this. She was seldom seen out of Branch's pod any more, most day Poppy didn't even get up from the bed of the blue troll and although the grey troll spoke still it was clear that with every day that passed the condition of the Queen was growing worse. None of the healers of the troll tree could tell the snack pack or Peppy exactly what was wrong with Poppy, they knew it was all as a result of her loosing Branch, but none of them could say why it should be affecting the Queen so badly when being grey hadn't affected the blue troll in the same way. The snack pack did their best to help Poppy but even they knew that they were having very little effect on the condition of their friend, but they refused to give up on their friend and the friends now understood why Poppy had refused to give up on Branch for all of those years. The grey troll still had absolutely had nothing to do with her father, she didn't look at Peppy and she didn't talk to him either. Peppy didn't blame his daughter for treating him this way, in fact the old troll felt that he deserved this treatment of him by his only child, after all it was his fault that Poppy was in the condition she was now.

In the village were Branch now lived, the elders had sent for the oracle of the Mist and those of the councillors who had been running the islands in the Kings absence, they had come to the village with hope in their hearts that at last their King had returned to them. When they had arrived at the costal village, the first thing the councillors and the oracle had noticed was that the Mist here was a lot thicker than any were else and this made them even more hopeful that this village did contain their much longed for King. The village council met them in the village square, they guided them to Aspens house, the old healer sat outside with another troll and as they all noticed the troll sitting with him the eyes of the oracle and the councillors went wide. This blue troll, had large sky blue and sapphire coloured wings just as all the Kings and Queens of the Mist did and laying on the ground beside him was the huge but clearly content Mist beast. The oracle walked over to him, as she did so the Mist beast looked up towards her, as it did so the blue troll looked away from Aspen to her and the shimmering silver troll froze. Silver had seen those eyes in her visions, she knew then that this was the foretold King and the oracle curtsied politely to him. "Great King of the Mist."

Branch rose his wings fanning out each side of him as he did so, as he walked forward the Mist beast followed him, the blue troll came to a halt in front of the silver haired oracle and addressed her. "You must be the oracle I am Branch."

"King Branch it is an honour to meet you at last, I am Silver your majesty."

"It is a pleasure to meet you lady Silver." The blue troll looked beyond her to the councillors who had been ruling the country in the King's absence.

Noticing that Branch was looking at them the three male and three female trolls stepped forward and introduced themselves to their King. First to do so was an old female forest green troll with sky blue hair who gave him a curtsied and then said to Branch. "I am duchess Emerald."

Next came a middle aged bright purple male troll with mid yellow hair. "I am lord Oak."

The youngest male member of the party, who was deep blue with orange hair spoke up next. "I'm sir River."

After him spoke the last of the male trolls he was also middle aged, with a bright green body and golden coloured hair. "I am lord Willow."

Next was a younger female troll her body was the same red as a cherry and her hair was a brilliant shade of burnt orange. "I am Lady Ruby."

Lastly came a middle aged female troll her body was a bright shade of yellow and her hair a brilliant pink. "I am Duchess Tulip."

Once they had introduced themselves to Branch, the oracle slowly got down onto her knees before him her robes of shimmering silver and grey billowing out around her as she did so. Slowly Silver brought her hands up, the mist followed her fingers to shape a sword, which she offered to Branch without making eye contact with him. The blue troll accepted the sword, he moved it to his side were mist formed a belt and a scabbard for the blade before turning his attention back to the oracle, she once more brought her hands up this time the mist formed a silver circlet shaped to look like tendrils of flowing mist, slowly holding this carefully in her hands Silver rose, the oracle reverently settled it onto the head of the blue troll and then stepped back from him before saying in a strong resonating voice. "Hail, hail to Branch King of the Mist!"

This was echoed by the six councillors, then the villagers present, it was picked up by the rest of the villagers and they too cried out their greeting to their King. Branch took a deep breath, he hadn't wanted to be King but it gave him a purpose something to focus on other than the fact he could never go back to Poppy. His life was here now Branch knew that, the blue troll decided that he would live here in the islands of the Mist, he would take a wife and raise an heir to his throne and when the time came he would be buried in the soil of this Misted land beside his ancestors.

Branch as King was to be taken back to the castle on the main island of Mist, but before he left the village which had been his home, the Mist King made sure that the village was handsomely compensated for taking care of him during his time there. After a long discussion with Aspen, Branch had convinced the old troll to come with him, having done this the King had made sure that two new healers were sent to the village to take over for himself and Aspen. Branch had now wore much more expensive clothing, but he refused to ware over robes that were any longer than his mid thigh, instead he made it clear that the loner robes would only be worn by him when he was involved in a formal affair. It wasn't until these two new healers arrived that Branch finally left the village, Silver had to admit even over this short space of time she was coming to respect her King he was strong enough to stand up for himself but wise enough to take advice when it was given to him.

During the time this had taken, the news that the King was back had spread across the islands like wild fire, however the peoples of the islands had only really begun to believe their King was back when thinker mist spread over their land before retreating again. Soon the belief grew, as a holiday to celebrate their King's return was announced the people began to celebrate, Branch travelled across his Kingdom to meet his people, the mist beast always at his side an ever present symbol along with his two tone blue wings that he was their King cemented their belief and hope their King had returned. Branch had gained favour with the people by declaring that every year on that day there would be a three day holiday to celebrate the return of the King. There was music and dancing and feasting were ever Branch travelled, he danced with many people over this time and he learnt to like the music of his new home it was haunting in some ways but lovely.

When Branch at last came to the Mist castle he was amazed, it looked like something out of a dream or a fairy tale, as the castle was a tall slender white structure, the towers speared high into the sky and were topped with silver gleaming turrets. The castle stood at the base of the Mist tree, it was a tree with a silver barked trunk and leaves seemingly made of mist, this was the tree from which all mist trolls were born. Tradition dictated that every couple who wished to have a child came here and with the blessing of the monarch who acted as the guardian of the tree waited for the pod of their child to grow and open before taking their child home with them. Branch looked up at the castle and the Mist tree, this place filled him with peace the blue troll felt like after a very long journey he had come home at last. The blue troll surprised all those present by starting to sing, Aspen smiled at their amazed expressions knowing from first hand experience how wonderful the voice of their King was.

"Lost I did wander,

driven on by forces unknown.

My heart has hurt for too long,

yet here in the Mist I find my peace

the aching in my soul is soothed.

I found no rest till I found these shores

Here I shall make my home

for all time

yes for all time.

Here I shall find my heart

to love again

yes to love again.

Here I shall grow my family

to give hope

yes to give hope.

The Mist is mine and I am the Mists

this is my crown

this is my land

these are my people

and I shall protect them until my last day."

Silver found herself smiling at the blue King, she could see that Branch was the kind of troll it would be easy to fall in love with, but she knew the words of the prophecy about him, these words being that the King would return to the mist where he would at first mourn the loss of his soul mate and true love, until he used the mist to swallow the memories of the pain in his heart and numb the aching of the scar on his soul. Until this happened it would be unwise for any troll to approach the King about romance or marriage and as the oracle of the mist Silver had a duty to remind the councillors of this fact so that they would not rush their new King to take a wife and produce a much longed for heir to the throne.

Over the next few months the new King of the mist with the help of the council, Aspen and Silver learnt to rule his people, he did so well impressing all of the trolls around him, and soon his people loved him. Branch was well known throughout his land for his knowledge of healing, many would come to him or write to him when they found a case they could not solve and the blue troll was already becoming as the prophecy about him had said he would to be known as the healing King. The King began to learn how to control the magic he had not even be aware that he had and continued to experiment with what he could do with his control over the mist. As was tradition Branch was given nine body guards all of who were male, they were named Onyx, Blizzard, Ash, Jade, Sage, Feather, Glenn, Flint and Brook, Jade was the leader of these nine trolls. It didn't take the blue troll long to get to know each one of them well, they considered each other friends and the Mist King came to trust these nine mist trolls, as he knew anyone of them would give their life for his. Branch had also expanded his knowledge of music, he now played, not only the hand harp, but the lyre and standing harps and those living in the castle loved to hear their King playing and singing.

By the time Branch had been living in the mist for nine months he felt it was time to do something about the pain remembering and loving Poppy when he would never be able to see her again caused him. Now that the blue troll knew the words of the prophecy concerning him he knew exactly what it was he needed to do, the blue troll was aware since that the oracle had not said that he would ever get his memories back then is was highly unlikely that once he locked them away he would never remember Poppy again, the new King permitted himself a moment to remember her and his love for the pink troll for one last time. After a few moments Branch let out a sigh, he hesitated only momentarily before he closed his eyes and turned the mist on to himself. The mist quickly buried all of his memories of his time in the troll tree away deep inside the King, it left only those of his grandmother's death, his knowledge of the wild and of healing, as well as the knowledge that he had never known his parents and the memories the blue troll had made since he came back to the islands. Once this was done the mist numbed the pain in his heart to allow the King to be able to love again and then it also soothed his aching soul so that Branch would never know he had been truly in love nor that he had a soul mate he could never be with. When the Mist King opened his eyes, he stood up straighter then before and let out a deep sigh, he couldn't remember what had been troubling him so much but whatever it had been it was gone now and Branch was grateful for that.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four:

It was one month after Branch had given up his memories to the mist that the raiders returned to the Mist islands, but they did so under the flag of peace. Branch made his way to the coast to meet with the raiders and as this was a formal occasion the Mist King dressed for it. The king wore a high necked silver top open at the front in a v shape, the tight sleeves had v shapes onto the back of his hands, he wore matching silver trousers and over this was a blue shimmering long robe, it went all the way to the floor flowing out behind him in a long train, it had long belled sleeves to his ankles, it was neatly fastened with hidden fasteners and then at his waist was a wide silver and shimmering blue sash belt hanging from which was his sword. The King carefully placed his circlet onto his head, he then turned to his nine body guards and said to them. "I don't look ridiculous, do I?"

Blizzard shook his head at his King and friend. "No Branch you look very regal just as you should for this meeting."

The blue troll took a deep breath, the nine body guards formed up around Branch, then together they left the tent which had been set up for him to go down to the beach to meet the envoy of the raider trolls. As the Mist King walked onto the beach he noticed that one of them was the red troll he had confronted in the village where he had lived and with him were three more older male trolls. Branch was aware that the mist beast had appeared next to his side and he walked towards the raiders with, his guards, the six councillors and the Mist beast with him. They watched the blue troll walking towards them with wide eyes, one of the older male trolls stepped forward this troll had an orange body and yellow hair. This troll bowed politely to Branch, the Mist King returned this gesture with a bow of his own head and then spoke to this orange troll. "I am King Branch of the Mist islands. You have come here under the flag of peace what do you want here?"

"I am Chief Fire dance, King of the Mist first we give you our humble apologies for the way our sailors treated your lands, we had no knowledge the goods they brought back from the islands had been taken and not traded for as we had been told. We have had severe words with all those involved and they have been punished as our law dictates they should be."

"I see, how was the truth discovered if I may ask."

The orange troll gestured to the red troll who Branch had seen before. "Flare confessed the truth, his encounter with you convinced him it was what he should do."

"I am glad to know that the truth has been brought out into the open at last. If you wish my forgiveness for what your people did I cannot give it, your forgiveness would have to come from my people and I would not give it without their blessing."

Fire dance felt admiration for this younger troll, this was clearly not only a wise troll but also not a troll to be crossed as he would defend his people from all harm. "I understand Branch King of the Mist, the fact you have even be willing to meet with us is far more than we expected from those who had been treated so badly by our people."

"We have no wish for war with any other trolls but trust between our people maybe some time in coming Chief of the raiders."

"That I understand King of the Mist. The raisers, is that what your people call us?" The blue King gave him a nod and the Chief of the raiders then addressed Branch again. "We call ourselves the people of the Ice Islands."

Branch gave him a nod and then said to the older troll. "The Ice Island trolls, this shall be recorded so that we know from this point forth how your people wish to be referred to. I have no wish to sound disrespectful to you or your people but it would be best for all I think if you and your people left our land. After I have spoken to my people I shall send a message bird to you so that we can begin to discuss matters between our peoples."

"We take no offence King Branch, we shall go as you suggest, I shall wait for your message bird and I look forward to a better relationship between our two peoples." With this said the Fire dance bowed again to Branch who once more returned this gesture, the Chief gathered up his people and returned with them to their ships.

The Mist King staid standing on the beach watching the ice island trolls leave, with his guards, councillors and the Mist beast beside him and Branch only turned back from the beach to return to his tent in the camp which had been made not far from the beach once he was very sure that the ice island trolls would not return to their land. Once he was back at his tent Branch did not remove the very formal robes, he settled instead on the chair within and let out a sigh before turning his gaze onto the councillors. "We must get the word out to my people. I truly wish to know their thoughts on making peace with the Ice Island trolls, make it clear to my subjects that these are the raiders and that I wish to know their thoughts on this unexpected offer of peace."

"Yes sire." The councillors said together and then left the tent to go and do as their King had told them too.

Branch stood there was a lot going around in his mind, feeling the need to relax a little after this meeting, he brought out one of his hand harps, he settled back down and then started to play. The body guards were well aware of their King and friends habit of playing music whenever he needed to relax and therefore were unsurprised when he started to play. The nine male trolls smiled at each other, Branch was a very talented musician, they very much liked to hear him playing his instruments and the nine of them also enjoyed it when Branch would sing as he had a wonderful voice. They were well aware that there was pain in their King's past, they also knew from the oracle of the mist that Branch had used the mist to burry those memories and the guards knew that Silver was aware of this fact because she could sense the change in their King. The nine body guards therefore didn't ask about Branch's past, instead they tried to encourage him to move forwards into the future and to think about giving his heart to another troll.

So far Branch had not found a troll that he wished to have a romantic relationship with, the King was unsure as to why this was the case, but every so often he would get this strange feeling that there was somewhere he should be and someone who needed him. The blue troll had no idea why he would feel this way but Branch did his best to try and push this feeling to one side so that he could try to find the one to share his life with, the King hoped that someday he would find the troll he could at last give his heart to and spend the rest of his life with. At the moment though the situation with the Ice island trolls was one Branch needed to deal with before he even thought about finding a wife to rule the Mist trolls beside him.

After this meeting the King made his way back to the castle, while he did this the news of the wishes of the Ice island trolls to make peace with them was spread to the people of the Mist islands. There was lots of heated debating amongst the trolls, lots of differing views, Branch had listened to all of his people and they were grateful towards their King for his consideration of their views in this important matter. It was clear that the Mist island people didn't want a war with Ice island trolls but there was a lot of distrust towards them after actions both of which Branch understood. In the end the Mist King had suggested that for now he would simply start to communicate with the Chief of the Ice island trolls through letters and then depending how this went then they could organise a meeting with these other trolls at this point. This idea from the blue troll was accepted by those he ruled, they felt this was a good compromise and would allow them all time to adjust to the fact that the Ice island trolls wanted to make peace with them after all this time.

It was a week after this that Branch was called with urgency to see the oracle of the mist, when he arrived in her rooms in the castle it was clear to the King that she was having a vision. As soon as he came in the room, Silver looked right at him, with eyes that didn't seem to see him at all and then she started to speak to him. "King of the Mist you shall be called, the Queen of the Bright trolls will need your healing skills and you must go to her. Branch my King and friend here in this tree of bright colour you will find your lost heart and soul as well as a love which last all of your life and into the world beyond." Silver blinked as she came back to herself, the oracle wavered slightly on her feet, Branch was quickly at her side supporting her and helping Silver into a nearby chair.

"I thank you for your words oracle of the mist. I now know that I need to be ready for." Silver smiled at her King grateful that seeing her have a vision had not made Branch afraid of her and that instead the blue troll was clearly glad of her vision as he could now be ready for what was to come.

Far away back at the troll tree Poppy was now at her worst, she lay in Branch's bed within his pod, the troll Queen didn't wake she just seemed to sleep and none of the snack pack or the healers of the troll tree could understand what had happened nine months after Branch had left them behind, but they all knew it must have been terrible to send Poppy into this strange comatose state in which she didn't appear to deteriorate but just sleep. At the this ten month mark the snack pack where now half way through looking through the archives, little did any of them know that today would be the day thing would change. It was Biggie who spotted it, a slender blue book high on a shelf, very carefully the large troll brought it down from the top of the shelf. He looked at it, there didn't seem to be anything special about this book, it was just an old book covered in dust, however the large blue troll remembered the old saying about not judging a book by its cover. Biggie carefully brought the slender book over to one of the tables in the archive, he placed it down on the table, before gently opening the cover of the book and reading the title of it on the first page. The blue troll froze, then read the words on the page before him again, before raising his voice and calling out. "Hey! I think I have something here!"

Quickly the rest of the snack pack and Moss made their way over to Biggie, Suki looked at him and said to the blue troll. "What have you found Biggie?"

"This book, I didn't think much of it at first but then remembered the old saying about not judging books by their covers, so I brought it over here to see what it was about and well…" The blue troll gestured down at the open book at this point.

Suki moved to stand next to him and looked down at the book and her eyes went wide. "Oh…Oh my…"

"Suki what is it?" Smidge asked with equal parts excitement and aggravation.

The DJ then read the title of the book out to the other trolls. "The rites of the Mist islands." As she announced this title to the others there were lots of excited murmuring from all of them.

As the noise died down Moss spoke up. "Sounds like a book to try reading, it might be able to help us find Branch and bring him back to us all. I will read the book to see if it can help while you all search for anything else that might help us."

The younger trolls all gave the elder nods of agreement, they went back to looking through the archive, meanwhile Moss settled down on one of the chairs in the archive and started to read the book. The old troll found the book hard going because it was hand written as well as in old formal language but he was at least making his way through the book. Every time Moss found something he thought might be useful the green troll made notes on it for him to go over later and the old troll had to admit that he found this old book extremely interesting. After spending a month reading this book Moss was coming to the end of the book, it was then that the old troll found something relating to the King of the Mist, the green troll read what was written on the pages before him and then read it all over again. The old troll looked up from the book, Moss's eyes were wide and his mouth was open in a perfect o of shock. The green troll shook himself out of his surprise and then raised his voice to call the snack pack. "I found something!"

They all came dashing out of the shelves of the archives and towards the old troll, there was hope in their eyes as they came towards him. "What did you find?!" Guy Diamond asked him with excitement.

Moss looked round at them and then said. "It appears to be a way to get in touch with the Mist rulers…It's a spell. It requires a few things…" The old troll lifted the book to and then began to read out to them the words written there. "The moon at its fullest body is the night to make this spell, you will need a round silver bowl, water the purest that can be found, you will need three stones, a sky stone, a water stone and a mist stone. Sit within a circle of trolls, make sure that the water of the bowl can reflect the stars and the moon, two trolls must sit with the bowl one to hold it and one to speak the words of this spell as the ritual is performed. Place within the bowl the sky stone then say the first part of the spell, after this put into the bowl the water stone and say the second part of the spell, then lastly place into the bowl the mist stone and as the final words of the spell are spoke pour the water into the bowl. Once the words are spoken the ruler of the mist will answer your call so be ready with your words, be warned the monarch of the mist will not be pleased if you summon them to you with no need."

"By the troll tree we did it…I can't believe we did it." Suki said with a small relived chuckle.

Smidge spoke next. "Do you think we can find all the things will we need for the spell?"

"I think so…" Moss said thoughtfully. "I have a large round silver bowl it's a family heirloom…But I'm willing to put it towards this summoning. The pure water, well thankfully there is plenty of that not far from Bergan town so that should be difficult for us to get hold of. The stones are going to be more difficult the best thing we can do is talk to the Bergan's and see if they can help us find them…mist stones are very rare…"

Suki took control at this time saying. "Right then let's go and talk to King Gristle and Queen Bridget, they have both been worried about Poppy and have been wanting to help her if they could."

"I shall stay behind here and make sure I have everything written down correctly." Moss told the younger trolls.

They all gave him a nod before they set out towards the castle, thanks to the installation of the troll railway they made their way to the castle quickly. When they arrived at the castle the guards were more than happy to help to help them find the King and Queen. When Bridget and Gristle noticed them with the two guards they instantly stood and came over to them it was the Bergan Queen who addressed them first. "Any news?"

The DJ answered her. "Yes, we have found a spell which should summon the Mist ruler, who as we all know is Branch, we just have to remember if this works that Branch will have no memory of any of us. We came to see you because the spell requires some things that we need in order to make it work items that we trolls simply don't have."

"What are they?" Gristle asked them as eager to help them as his wife was.

"A water stone, a sky stone and a mist stone." Suki told him.

The Bergan king looked thoughtful and then said. "Well the water stone and sky stone I know the local jewellers will carry…The mist stone though may be harder…I think there might be one in the castle volt but I'd have to check. I tell you what Bridget can take you to the town jeweller to get the first two stones while I see if I can at least see if there is a mist stone on the list of items stored in the volt."

"Thank you." Suki said to him gratefully.

The snack pack left moved themselves from the guard to shoulders Bridget's shoulders and one the Bergan Queen was happy that they were all safely on her shoulders she set off out of the castle and into the town to the jewellers shop in Bergan town. As Bridget entered the shop the owner smiled at her widely, he watched as she settled the trolls onto the counter and then the Bergan Queen then addressed him. "We need a small water stone and a small sky stone, they are for the trolls so they need to be the smallest ones you have."

"Of course your majesty." He said before he slipped into his back room, the jeweller came back a few moments later with a tray with stones on them, some were sky blue and others were a deep sapphire blue and both shades instantly reminded the trolls of Branch's colouring. Before the trolls could tell him that these stones were too far big for them he held up two small bags and then spoke to the snack pack. "This are all the chippings from the sky and water stones I have been working for jewellery, these chippings are often too small for my use but they might be right for you. The green pouch has the sky stone chips in, the blue one has the sky stone chips in them, I keep them separate because my little girl likes to see if she can turn the chips into beads and she likes to know which stone is which, but any way I am sure she would not begrudge you taking some of each of them." Once he had finished speaking the jeweller carefully tipped the contents of the green pouch into one tray and the blue pouch into the other tray.

Suki clambered into the tray containing the water stones she picked out three likely looking pieces of stone, she popped these into her hair and then climbed back out of the tray. The DJ walked from this first tray to the second, she again climbed into this second tray, Suki picked out another three pieces of water stone and also placed these into her hair. The orange haired troll clambered back out of the tray, Suki smiled up at the jeweller and then said to him gratefully. "Thank you so much for your help."

"You are welcome, I am glad I could help you."

The trolls once more climbed onto Bridget who took them back to the castle, they found Gristle in his study going through a large book as they entered the room the Bergan King looked up from the book and smiled at Bridget. His eyes fell on the trolls, Gristles smile grew and he then spoke to the snack pack. "I have some good news, there is a mist stone in the castle volt. I'm not sure how easy it is going to be to find it but there is one."

"Can we start looking for it now?" Biggie asked eagerly.

Gristle gave him a nod. "I don't see why not, I'll get some of the guards to help us too."

So it was that Bridget, Gristle and the Bergan guards made their way into the castle volt and together they started to look for the mist stone. It was in fact one of the guards who found the stone, he held it up the light and called out gleefully to the others. "I found it!"

They came together in the middle of the volt, the trolls stared at the stone in his hand, it was huge to them, it was a grey stone which seemed to have white swirling patterns which looked just like mist scrolling across its surface. "It's beautiful but far too big." Smidge said softly.

Gristle looked at the stone and then said to the trolls. "Then we break it." The trolls gasped surprised that the Bergan King was willing to do this in order to help them, but Gristle was already looking for something to break the stone with and the guards followed his lead. Soon the Bergans had found several different implements to try breaking the stone with, they set to work on the mist stone and after several attempts they finally broke it. Bridget placed the trolls down around the broken stone and together they located three pieces which were just the right size for them. Suki turned grateful eyes onto the King and Queen of the Bergans and said to them with happiness in her voice. "Thank you, both of you so much."

"If it will bright Branch back and help Poppy then that's all that matters." Bridget assured them.

The trolls hugged her fingers, they climbed back onto the Bergan Queen who walked them out of the castle and back to the troll train.

The snack pack quickly got back to the troll tree, they hastily made their way to the archive, Moss was sitting there waiting for them and looked at them hopefully. "We have all three stones!" Biggie told him excitedly.

"Good, I've got the words of the spell written down and I have discovered that the next full moon is in three days."

The snack pack told King Peppy of their discovery, he had been thrilled by what they had found out and had insisted that he be involved in some way and they had told him he could sit in the circle round the bowl with those who would not be holding the bowl or speaking the spell, this inclusion by them in what was to happen had pleased the King. It had been decided since it was his family heirloom that Moss would hold the silver bowl and Suki would speak the words of the spell, with this decided the old green troll made sure to carefully teach the DJ the words of the spell. The other members of the snack pack with the help of Bergan guards had left Bergan town that very day to get the pure water for the spell and had returned the day after with it.

On the night of the full moon the troll tree and Bergan town was in complete silence, they all knew that the spell was going to be cast tonight, they were all hoping that it would work and that Branch would be returned to them. They all knew that if the spell worked that the blue troll would lack his memory but still they held onto hope that at least Branch would be returned to them and that maybe this would help Poppy in some way.

Peppy, and the snack pack had gathered together in a clearing not far from the troll tree but as the directions of the spell had dictated with nothing to block the bowls view of the stars. Moss sat in the clearing holding the bowl, the jug of clear pure water sat by the bowl, Suki sat with the shards of stone on the ground next to her and around her in a circle sat the six other members of the snack pack and Peppy. Moss looked round at them all, he then turned his gaze onto Suki and then said to her. "Are you ready?"

"Yes…I know the spell and I know what I need to ask the King to do."

Moss gave her a nod. "Good, now place the water stone in first and say the first part, the sky stone goes next followed by the second part of the spell and then lastly the mist stone and the third part of the spell."

Suki took a deep breath, she placed the sky stone into the bottom of the bowl and spoke the words. "You who are descended of the one born of the love of the Sky god here to this place we summon you for aid as we need it with all urgency." The DJ took the water stone, she placed this into the bowl then said the next part of the spell. "You who are descended of the one born of the love of the Sea goddess here to this place we summon you, we wish you here with us for our hearts are in pain and we need your aid to heal that pain." Very carefully Suki placed the mist stone into the bowl and spoke the last part of the spell and as she spoke Moss poured the water into the bowl. "Ruler of the Mist, you who tames the mist beat, you control the mist, you with the wings of sky blue and sapphire blue here to this place we summon you, our souls cry out for your assistance come to us now ruler of the Mist." As Suki spoke the last words mist boiled up out of the bowl, it spiralled upwards, then fell back and before them hanging in the air head bowed forward, eyes closed and his two tone wings curled round him was Branch.

Slowly his head came up, his eyes opened and the wings also opened up each side of him to reveal his new strange clothing, mist curled round and off of him in ornate swirls. The Mist King looked around at them all and then addressed the trolls gathered in the clearing before him in a commanding voice. "You have summoned me, what do you wish of me?"

Suki quickly shook herself out of her shock and found her voice. "Great King of the Mist, our Queen Poppy is greatly ill we seek you in hopes that you may be able to heal her."

Branch looked into her eyes for a long moment, the DJ was sure that he was looking into her soul and then gave her a nod. "I have expected a call for assistance, I shall come to aid your Queen as my skill is to heal. Stay here were you are I shall come in but a few moments." The mist washed back up and the King vanished from sight.

The trolls waited quietly, then a few moments later, more mist filled the clearing, out of it stepped the winged blue troll, on one shoulder he carried a large bag, behind him was the great Mist beast and nine other trolls who were clearly guards. Branch smiled at them all. "I am King Branch, these are my nine body guards. I am afraid I cannot go any were without them which I am sure you all understand. Do not be worried by the Mist beast it will harm no one unless they harm me first, in fact I can make it a little easier on you all…" Branch turned towards the beast, he held a hand out towards it, the beast stepped forward, it lowered its head into his hand and then vanished into the blue troll. "There that's should make things less threatening for all involved. Now if you will show me to your Queen I shall see what I can do for her." Quickly the trolls left the clearing, guiding the blue troll and his nine guards into the troll tree to the blue pod in which Poppy was. As they made their way to the pod the snack pack, Moss and King Peppy introduced themselves to the mist trolls who were with them.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five:

When they entered the blue pod, the snack pack, Peppy and Moss quickly guided Branch into the room which held Poppy. The blue troll looked at the grey troll, he carefully placed his bag down to one side, he walked across the room towards Poppy and then looked down at her. "Hm, colour loss unusual. How long has your Queen been like this?"

It was Peppy who answered this question. "This state came over my daughter Poppy about ten months ago."

"I see, what was she like before this?"

"Poppy was happy, she loved to sing and dance…My daughter was full of life and now Poppy is like this." The old King told him.

Branch gave him a nod, the blue troll sat down beside the bed of the young Queen, gently the King of the Mist took Poppy's hand into his and closed his eyes. The trolls gasped as the King glowed with a blue light which slowly extended out over the comatose grey troll it seemed to be gently assessing her. After a few moments of sitting by the bedside of Queen Poppy holding her hand with his eyes closed the Mist King opened his eyes, the glow went out round both trolls and the blue troll sighed very deeply. "It is what I had suspected it might be."

"What is it?" Peppy asked with concern.

"You daughter loved a troll truly but not just any troll her soul mate, that is not a bond to be taken lightly or lost easily. I have seen this before my people call it the deep sickness, in essence it is not just your daughter's body that is sick King Peppy but her soul and heart too." The blue troll explained with compassion for Poppy in his blue eyes.

The snack pack gasped and the old King gulped before asking. "Is there nothing to be done?"

Branch looked to Peppy and said softly. "The cure to the sickness is simple enough. Queen Poppy needs her true love and soul mate returned to her, this is the only troll who can heal her completely of her sickness. King Peppy I cannot state strongly enough to you how important it is that troll is returned to your daughter. If they do not return to her…Your daughter will die."

The room filled with noises of shock and despair and Peppy said softly in a broken voice. "He is gone…Has been gone for over ten months now. I called him a freak after an incident and sent him away, which means I do not know where he is so I cannot ask him to return to my daughter."

Branch let out a sad sigh of his own. "I see. I can heal Queen Poppy as best I can and take some of the pain from your daughter, but as the one she needs has been gone from your daughter for some time already I doubt Queen Poppy will live for much more than a few more months without him." Biggie burst into tears at that moment and hugged his pet glow worm to him. Once more the mist King started to glow with his blue magic, it wrapped round the unresponsive Poppy for a few moments and slowly within the hold of this blue magic the expression of pain on the young Queens face softened. "There that should help."

"What will happen to her true love and soul mate?" Satin asked with curiosity and concern.

"As he was the one who was sent away nothing will happen to him as he did no wrong…It is Queen Poppy who suffers for her father's actions." Once he had finished explaining this the Mist King yawned widely. "Forgive me, traveling here, helping easing Queen Poppy's pain and giving her healing took a lot out of me."

"No forgive us, please King Branch go and get some rest." Peppy told the younger royal.

Branch stood, Suki went with him, she guided the Mist King to the guest room in the blue pod, he settled down on the bed and went to sleep. The orange haired troll stood in the door way watching him for a few moments, she let out a deep sigh and left the room to find his body guards standing in the hallway behind her. "I'm sorry the pod doesn't have rooms for you all."

Slowly a jade green troll with blue grey hair smiled at her and said. "That is alright miss Suki we can sleep in the main room but we will not go far from our King."

"Please just Suki is fine, I know you all introduced your selves earlier but I'm afraid I wasn't paying close attention at the time…" As the orange haired troll admitted this to them she blushed

"It's alright it was rather a lot of names to learn in one go. I am Jade the head of the body guards of the King of Mist Suki. This is Blizzard, Ash, Glenn, Onyx, Feather, Flint, Sage and Brook." The green skinned troll said gesturing around at the other body guards who stood with him.

"There is something I want to ask and if you don't want to answer please just tell me. What did King Branch mean when he said that he had been expecting a call?"

It was the white skinned and light blue haired Blizzard who answered this question. "The oracle of the mist foretold that our King would be summoned to aid your Queen."

"Oh I see…"

"I hope he can help your Queen." Ash said to the orange haired troll softly.

The DJ smiled at this blue skinned and purple haired troll. "Thank you I hope he can heal Poppy too." This said the orange haired troll left the body guards in the main room of the pod and returned to the room containing her friends. A short while later the snack pack, Moss left the pod, a few moments after this Peppy stepped into the main room and looked at the guards. "I would usually sleep here but your King is currently occupying the bed which would usually be mine so I am going to sleep on the air bed my daughter's room tonight."

"Very well King Peppy sleep well." Jade said to the King.

The troll King returned to the room in which his daughter lay, the nine guards settled themselves down on the floor of the blue pod in order to get some sleep of their own. When morning found the pod, Sage was working in the kitchen making breakfast, the smells of which woke both King Peppy and King Branch, both trolls dressed and made their way into the kitchen, the blue troll smiled at Sage. "Thank you for making breakfast Sage."

"You are welcome." The dark green haired and lighter green skinned troll said to his King.

As they all sat and ate together, once they had finished eating Peppy addressed the blue troll with deep sadness in his voice. "Would you be willing to stay here with us and help keep my daughter from feeling too much pain until she passes?"

As Branch looked up he met the gazes of the other King, he could see before him not a troll King but a father who was losing his only child and the Mist King had no intention of denying him. "Of course I shall. I will contact my people in the mist through the mist to tell them I shall be here for some time to come."

"Thank you." Peppy said to him softly.

The blue troll did as he said he would, he contacted the councillors in the mist, Branch told them were he would be and that he might be here for some time but would be contactable through the mist any time they should need him for anything. The blue troll soon had a routine going with Queen Poppy, were he would spend several hours each day at regular intervals to heal her and ease her pain. Unsure why he did so Branch would often just talk to Queen Poppy about all sorts of things to do with living in the mist, as well as telling her the legends and history of the mist people. The King was really quite surprised when instead of weakening and dying as he had expected the grey troll to do she in fact started to grow stronger under his care. The blue troll being the healer he was made notes on this strange change in Poppy's state of health, once her recovery became more obvious Branch turned to King Peppy one day and said to him. "It would seem that Queen Poppy is becoming better, I am unsure why or if this will mean that your daughter will wake from the comatose state she is in but I have hope that it may be possible."

Peppy had smiled at the blue troll and said with hope in his voice. "Hope is better than nothing and considering I thought I might lose my daughter without being able to say good bye…Even if Poppy only wakes for a short while so I and her friends can say good bye to her then we will be grateful for that much."

After this conversation with the older troll Branch began to do some more research into the deep sickness, it was a very rare condition, so the information on the condition was fragmentary to say the least, but still the blue troll determinedly read anything and everything he could find on the deep sickness. Eventually the blue troll discovered a few things about the illness, he had been right, Poppy would die without her soul mate and true love at her side, but it was possible that if she accepted healing, which was what it appeared the Queen was doing when it came to him then she would get better for a period of time before once more returning to this state before she would die. The length of the period of time which the Queen would be awake for entirely depended on how determined the grey troll turned out to be. After finding all of this out about the deep sickness, Branch worked hard to help Poppy recover as much as she could, he wanted for her to be awake so that all of those trolls who cared about her had a chance to be able to say their farewells to her and the Queen to them.

It was a week later when Branch looked up from the work he was doing to help ease Poppy's pain and healing of the grey troll to find Suki in the room with him, the orange haired troll smiled at the King and spoke to him. "Poppy seems to be responding to your care well."

"Indeed, your Queen is doing much better than I expected. If it continues like this she may well wake up for some time again, but Queen Poppy will deteriorate once more…I have been in communication with my people in the mist I am going to stay until your Queen passes or recovers. At first I only wished to stay because I could see that King Peppy suffered for his actions but now I do not know why but I didn't feel I could leave this place until one or the other had happened to Queen Poppy…The way she makes me feel is strange…It is like something from long ago and far away." The King suddenly shook himself and smiled sheepishly at the DJ. "My apologies…That is no way for me to talk about your Queen."

"It is alright King Branch, you were simply expressing what you felt." The orange haired troll watched as the blue troll carefully tucked the Queen back into bed now he was done with his work.

"I thank you for your understanding." The King said to her softly.

It was a few days after this conversation that Poppy finally woke from the state she had been in, as the young Queen looked around the room she was in the grey troll found Suki and Peppy sitting on chairs by her bedside. The DJ smiled down at her and said softly to the Queen. "The Mist King said you would wake up soon. It's good to see you awake again Poppy, we need to tell you something, Branch is back here at the troll tree, do you remember we suspected he was the Mist King?"

Poppy gave her a nod and said in a pain filled voice. "Yes, I remember you all talking about it around me."

"Well it turned out Moss was correct, Branch is the Mist King, he…Well there is no easy way to tell you this…You see just as the story said he would Branch lost all of his memories of us and of you…I'm so very sorry Poppy."

The Queen had wept then with big sobs shaking her body, Suki had rubbed her arm in a comforting manor and as Poppy's crying started to quieten the DJ then said to her. "I think deep down somewhere within him Branch does still remember you despite what he has done to himself…I've seen how he looks at you…I'm not going to say that it will be easy Poppy, but I think you might be able to get Branch to remember you."

"You really think so?" Poppy asked with a tiny shard of hope in her voice.

Suki gave her a nod, this time Peppy spoke to his daughter his voice full of sorrow as he did so. "I'm so sorry Poppy…All of this is my fault…I hurt you so badly…King Branch has told us that your condition may well cost you your life and it's all my fault." As he said this to Poppy, silent tears started to roll down his face.

Poppy took one of her father's hands into hers, she gently wiped the tears from his cheeks and said to her father. "I forgive you…Am I really going to die?" The grey troll asked them both.

Suki gave her a sad nod. "Yes, King Branch's people call what you have the deep sickness, he tells us that unless the one who is both your true love and soul mate is returned to you then you will die…I'm so sorry Poppy." Having kept herself together until now the DJ also started to cry before hugging her friend.

The Queen let Suki hold her until she at last managed to get herself under control, when she had done so Poppy pulled back from the hug and then asked her. "Do we know how long I have to try and wake Branch's memories of me?"

"No, but I am sure that King Branch would be able to give you some idea." The orange haired troll told her, she then looked towards the door of the room before saying to Poppy. "In fact King Branch should be here soon to help with your healing and the easing of you pain. Now remember Poppy that he won't remember you."

Poppy took a deep breath and gave her a nod, sure enough a few moments later the door to her room opened and the love of her life walked into the room. The grey troll could hardly believe how amazing her looked in Mist island clothing, the garments Branch wore that day were in shades of sky blue and sapphire to match his own colours. As the Mist King noticed that Poppy was awake he smiled at the Queen before saying to her. "Well I see you are awake Queen Poppy."

"I am, please just call me Poppy, I think considering after all the aid you have rendered me it is fitting for you not to have to use my title."

"Well in that case I would be honoured if you would just call me Branch."

"Suki tells me you might have some idea of how long I might stay awake for before I once more fall into the coma and then pass from this world."

Branch raised both eyebrows slightly, it seemed that the young Queen was accepting of her fate and this surprised him a little but he answered her question. "Well according to all the research, I have done the amount of time depends on how determined you are to stay awake but most who have gone through this before you have not lasted more than six months before they once more return to the coma and then pass into the afterlife three months after that. Still if the one who is your true love and soul mate can somehow be found and returned to you then all should be well for you."

"I see, well then I shall have to be as determined as possible." Poppy told him which caused the blue troll to smile at her. The grey troll felt that if she couldn't get Branch to remember her then she didn't want to have to watch him fall in love with and marry another troll, though Poppy couldn't say that she wanted to die the grey troll was glad she had been told the truth rather than for it to have been hidden from her. Poppy was determined that she would fight to stay alive for as long as possible and try her hardest to make Branch remember her but the Queen accepted the fact that she might lose this battle.

The Mist King came across the room to her side and then addressed her. "Well it is good to hear you are going to be so determined. Now I need to give you some healing and dull the pain you feel that should help with matters." Branch extended his hands, the blue trolls started to glow with blue light, Poppy watched as the blue light surrounded her, the young Queen felt a warmth travel through her she felt the pain within her easing slightly and Poppy was very glad of that.

After a short while the blue light faded from her, the King lowered his hands and then Branch yawned. "Please excuse me Poppy, healing you like this and blunting the pain you feel at the loss of the one who is completely yours makes me tired. If you will excuse me I shall rest, at least now you are awake I can cut down on these sessions from six times a day to two times…" This said Branch wandered back out of the room to go and get some rest again.

Poppy waited until she was sure Branch was out of earshot before she turned to Suki and her father before saying to them. "Does he always dress like that and is Branch always tired after helping me?"

"The answer to both of those questions is yes Poppy." Peppy told her simply.

"I see." Over the next few days the Queen began to slowly but surely recover from her coma with help from Branch. Once the blue troll was happy with how her recovery was going Branch started to allow Poppy out of the blue pod and into the tree but the blue troll had made sure to tell her not to overdo things too quickly. The grey troll had promised him she would not do so and Poppy had kept her word to Branch to not over to things until she was stronger. The grey troll had made sure to take the time to say everything that she had wanted to too all of those she loved and cared for firstly because Poppy didn't know when she would run out of time to do so and so that when the time she wouldn't have left anything unsaid. The pink troll had also made sure to thank all of the Bergan's who had helped her friends to bring Branch back to her and they had received her thanks with great happiness. The Queen had also given her thanks to Moss for his part in bringing Branch back into her life, the old troll had been grateful for her thanks and had encouraged the pink troll not to give up on the one she loved. As she grew stronger the troll Queen liked getting out of the blue pod to walk around the tree, she was always accompanied on these walked by Branch which made them even more important to Poppy. As they walked the grey troll took time to point various things out to the ruler of the Mist trolls, Branch listened with interest to all the things Poppy had to say and would ask questions when he wanted to know more.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six:

As Poppy grew stronger she started to spend more time out in the troll tree, the grey troll was trying to spend as much time as she could organising all of the trolls for when she was gone. At the same time thought Poppy was making sure to spend time with her father, her friends and most importantly Branch. There were times that just as Suki had told her the Queen felt sure that somewhere deep inside him the blue troll remembered her and the love he held for her and this feeling kept the fire of hope burning inside of Poppy's heart. Today the grey troll was actively looking for Branch but she could not find him, after asking a few of the other trolls the Queen had been pointed in the direction of the base of the troll tree were the mushrooms and grass was. Poppy made her way down there, eventually she spotted the Mist King's nine body guards and walked over to them When she made it to the side of these nine trolls the Queen found that she didn't have to ask them were Branch was because he was sitting right in front of her.

Poppy knew that she was staring wide eyed at the Mist King, Branch sat at a stringed instrument, she had never seen the likes of before it was like an elegant golden wing. The blue troll lifted his hands and as he ran his fingers over the strings of this instrument they released a beautiful, soothing rippling noise, it was like water or mist made music Poppy decided. The fingers of the blue troll moved expertly over the strings as he played, it was the most stunning and relaxing music that the Queen had ever heard. Several other trolls had been drawn by the music the King was playing, but Branch continued to play unaware of them, his eyes were closed and the blue troll was clearly lost to the music he was creating. Poppy gave a start of surprise as the King began to sing all of a sudden.

"Deep within the mist

My true love and I did meet,

I gave to her my heart

Then we were torn apart.

I was left to wander,

With half a heart.

Shattered in my soul

And torn in my heart.

When night comes I dream

Of feelings I cannot place.

Yet in my heart I know

For my true love I do yearn.

Within the mist I lost my memories

And the tide washed away my tears.

The fire of love burned a mark on my soul

But the earth has buried my heart.

Your name is gone yet my soul cries it.

Your face I no longer know.

But my heart,

Oh my heart it knows with you I do belong.

Deep within the mist

My true love I did meet,

I gave to her my heart

Then we were torn apart."

Branch finished his song but continued to play, slowly he opened his eyes, the blue troll became aware of the many colourful trolls around him, the King brought his playing to a halt and he looked to his guards, noticing Poppy with them he smiled at her. The grey troll smiled back slightly, she walked over to were Branch was, the Queen stood beside the Mist King and said to him softly. "I've never heard such beautiful music before, you play very well."

"Thank you…Your people don't have the harp?" Branch asked her with surprise.

Poppy shook her head as she answered the question. "No we don't. Is the music you just played the kind your people generally play?"

"For the most part yes, our music is quite slow, save for certain events then the rhythm can become much faster. Speaking of special events, there is one my people will wish to hold soon, I am hoping we can have your permission as the Queen of the tree to hold it here."

"Oh what is this event?"

"It is the celebration of the return of the Mist King, we hold a large party for the anniversary of this event every year." Branch explained.

"I see, how many of your people would come and how would they get here?"

"All of my people will come, as for how they will get here I will use the mist to bring them, as well as to send them home and the celebration usually lasts from midmorning to midevening. I was hoping that we could hold the celebrations here at the base of your tree, the space here is quite big enough for all of my people to gather in. I will warn you though that it is likely that my people will try to involve yours in the celebration, so if your people do not wish to join us I would recommend that you tell them to stay inside that day."

Poppy was thoughtful for a few moments and then gave the blue troll a nod. "I don't see why your people can't hold the celebration here, it sounds like it is no more energy filled than one of our own parties. I'll advise my people of what is going to happen and that if they don't wish to became accidently involved then they should stay inside that day. How long is it until this celebration is supposed to be held?"

"It will be in just over a month."

"I see well that gives us plenty of time to help with any organising that needs to be done,"

Branch stood up from, he smiled down at Poppy and then said to her. "My guards and myself will be glad of any help we can get with preparing decorations and food for the celebration."

So it was that Poppy and the trolls of the troll tree helped the Mist King and his guards to prepare for the celebration to mark the return to the Mist of their King. When the morning of the celebration dawned, the sky was clear and blue a perfect day to hold such a large celebration and as it was an important occasion Branch was dressed in a long formal robe. Poppy hadn't been able to stop staring at him when the blue troll had walked out of his room in the pod, crowned as he always was, dressed in the ankle length robe of shimmering shy blue under which was a tight high necked long sleeved dark blue top and matching long trousers. The Queen had to admit that Branch looked very handsome in these very formal robes and Poppy had just wanted to take them off of him.

The trolls of the troll tree all watched the blue troll with interest as he formed many portals made of mist, through them came Mist troll after Mist troll, the old, young, families and singles, they all came, some of the Mist trolls called out greetings to old friends. Each of the Mist trolls as they passed by their King gave him a polite greeting along with a bow or a curtsy before moving on. Poppy watched as the councillors arrive they all bowed politely to the King who returned their greeting with a bow of his head. Then a female troll came through the portal, she was a shimmering silver troll, she wore robes of pure white, she sunk into a low formal curtsy before the King and addressed him. "Greetings my King."

"Silver, oracle of the mist, it is a pleasure to see you again." As Branch helped Silver to stand and as he did this the Queen felt a stab of envy go straight through her. It was clear that these two trolls had a close caring relationship, what Poppy wouldn't give to have even that kind of a relationship with Branch right now. With her greeting given to the King of the Mist Silver moved off to join the rest of the Mist trolls, they treated the oracle with great respect as they greeted her.

When Branch was happy that all of the Mist trolls were at the troll tree the blue troll carefully closed the mist portals back down. Poppy watched as Branch took the time to walk amongst his people, he stopped to talk to some of them and they were clearly happy to have their Mist King amongst them. The blue troll was often presented baby Mist trolls, he would gently touch their foreheads, the Queen realised that Branch was blessing each one of these children and the fact that he did so without even seeming to need to think about it clearly showed that the King had done this many times before now.

As mid day came the Mist trolls gathered together at the base of the troll tree to perform their yearly celebration of their Kings return, the musicians gathered together and a few moments later music began to play. This music was not like the pop music Poppy was use to this music was played by violins, flutes, guitars and drums, it was like nothing the Queen had ever heard before. The music started out slow, couples took to the floor dancing together, then half way through the dance Branch stood the King took off his over robe as the rest of the Mist trolls had, he went out into the dance lifted his hands and started to clap out a faster rhythm, which the instruments started to pick up. Then the blue troll took hold of the hand of one of the female trolls, she took hold of another Mist trolls hand, soon they were all linked together, dancing and weaving around and under each other forming shapes only to split apart to change partners before starting to form shapes all over again. Poppy quickly noticed that even Mist troll children were pulled into the dance and they were shown the steps of the dance by their elders. The Queen found herself watching with amazement as the feet of the Mist trolls seemed to fly and the males including Branch performed spectacular leaps ever so often. Poppy watched as the patterns grew and grew in size until every last Mist troll save the musicians and those too old or too ill to join in were pulled into the dance, right in the centre of the dance leading them all was Branch. Eventually they had encircled the troll tree, as one the Mist trolls broke their long chain apart, they clapped in rhythm, but carried on moving together, the Mist trolls started to form a shape which from high up Poppy watched become two perfect interweaving moving circles. The Bergan's had even stopped what they were doing to watch and had started to clap along with their rhythm clearly entranced by the dancing of the Mist trolls.

The grey troll observed that some of the younger Mist trolls had noticed some of the younger members of the troll tree watching them with interest and after some urging on the part of the Mist troll children they were now also joining in. The circle round the tree broke, Branch took one trolls hand, the chain reformed, as this happened he led the dancers up from the base of the troll tree into the tree itself and as they danced past the trolls of the tree started to join them. As the blue troll came level with Poppy he let go of the troll behind him, the King of the Mist grabbed her hand and pulled her into place behind him, before the Queen could get away, another troll was taking her hand and Poppy found that she was now part of the dance. After a few moments the grey troll had picked up the steps of the dance and the Queen was dancing right alongside the Mist trolls up into the tree. When they came to the top most branches the Mist trolls all split away from the chain so that each couple was now at the tips of a branch of the tree. Poppy found herself in the arms of the King of the Mist, they danced together perfectly and as the music started to come to a close, Branch placed his hands to her waist and effortlessly lifted Poppy up into the sky. Slowly he brought her down, the Queen placed her hands onto his chest, she looked up into his blue eyes, Branch looked down at the grey troll, he frowned for a moment, Poppy could see something pass over him and then the King of the Mist trolls shook himself before taking a step back from her.

Branch tore his gaze from the Queen, he quickly turned away from her, then the blue troll ran down the tree Poppy dashed after him, the other trolls started to follow them, when the blue troll came to the edge of a branch he took a flying leap off of it which had Poppy's heart in her mouth. She watched from the edge of the branch as his wings opened, as his wings began to beat the King raised his hands into the air, mist curled out from his fingers, it flowed out behind him as he flew through the air twisting and swirling to form intricate patterns and then it started to glow blue. The winged Mist trolls let out a shout of joy, they sprang from the tree after their King, their wings opening and filling the sky with white feathers. Music now only played by only the violin floated through the air seeming to match every movement Branch made as he flew. Poppy watched with awe as the blue troll seemed to dance through the air his fingers now at his side the blue glowing mist trailing after him as he flew.

Then slowly the Mist beast appeared beside him it roared, Branch responded to this by flying straight up, the beast came level with him, the King opened his arms wide the blue light filled the air, the wings of the blue troll seemed to grow and the beast bowed its head before dissolving into the body of Branch. Poppy, the trolls and Bergans watched as with his wings still beating the glowing blue troll clasped his hands together and bowed his head. Slowly the wings of the King shrunk back to their normal size, but one feather fell from the wings, it was swept up by the mist to hang in the air before Branch held by the mist. The blue troll opened his eyes, the blue feather started to glow brightly with blue light, the mist swirled round it before some of it was absorbed into the feather. The King unclasped his hands, he reached forward taking hold of the feather, then Branch started to fly holding the feather strait towards the troll tree, he landed on the branch were Poppy stood, the Mist trolls all still in the air stopped flying, their wings beating to keep them aloft they watched as their King walked to the grey Queen and held the feather out to her. The grey troll reached out, she carefully took hold of the feather, Branch didn't release the feather, causing Poppy to look up at him and when she did this the King spoke to her. "A symbol of peace between our two peoples."

Realising what the blue troll was doing the Queen smiled as best as she could at the Mist King. "I accept your symbol of peace King Branch of the Mist islands."

The blue troll released the feather, Poppy held it between her fingers carefully, she could feel the magic it contained and she knew that this feather would become an important relic of her people. Poppy held the feather close to her, the Queen didn't want to let go of this feather, it felt like the most precious thing that she had ever been given in her whole life. The grey troll carefully eased the feather from her fingers, before he gently placed the blue feather into her hair as he did this Poppy started to think about what she could give to Branch to represent the peace between their two peoples from her own people. The Queen shook herself out of her thoughts, she realised Branch had flown off again, the grey troll then retuned her gaze to the Mist trolls looking for him, as she looked for their King Poppy realised that they had once more landed at the base of the troll tree, the Mist trolls had all settled down onto the ground and started to share a meal. The Mist trolls were more than happy to share the food with the trolls from the tree, seeing this Poppy looked for their King again, when she spotted the blue troll the Queen determinedly made her way down the tree and over to were Branch was sitting was with his body guards, the councillors and the oracle. "May I join you?" The grey troll asked them.

"Of course." The King said, he moved over on the grass under the tree and Poppy sat down beside the King.

Flint passed her a plate and then said to the Queen. "Anything in particular you might like?"

Poppy looked around at all that was on offer and pointed to come near by cake. "I'll start with a slice of the cake please." The grey purple haired troll, placed a slice of cake onto the plate and the grey troll gave him a small but grateful smile. Poppy then turned her attention onto the King of the Mist, she nibbled on her cake before saying to Branch. "Jumping off of the troll tree like that gave me a heart attack you know…I keep forgetting that you and your people have wings."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…I should have warned you that as part of the celebration I would fly with the mist."

"The Mist beast what is it exactly?" Poppy asked him curiously.

"It is a dragon, a Mist dragon to be precise and it is the only one of its kind. The Mist beast protects me, just as it has all of my ancestors before me and as it will my heirs after me." Branch told her as he dished some fruit onto his plate.

"I see, your people seem to very comfortable with your control of the mist."

Branch gave her a nod and then explained to her. "This is so, the rulers of the Mist islands only use the mist to protect the islands and the people of our lands from harm. Part of the reason the Mist beast submits to the ruler of the mist because we do not use the mist to cause harm unless we have to. I am actually the first of the rulers of the Mist islands to be able to use the mist to heal this is apparently an extension of my interest and overall ability when it comes to healing. There is much hope amongst the Mist islanders that I will be able to pass this on to my heir or if not to my first heir then one to come from my line later."

"Yes, I've been one of the recipients of your healing power, so I can see why your people would hope that it would be passed from you onto you heir." Poppy noticed that as Branch smiled at her and looked away to answer a question from one of his councillors that Silver was looking at her. The oracle caught her eye and gave her a small understanding smile this caused the grey troll to frown with confusion but Poppy was unable to ask the other troll anything as her attention was turned to Sage as he offered her something to drink

As the meal wound down, Poppy noticed that slowly but surely the Mist trolls were all starting to gather around were Branch was sitting, the blue troll finished eating he looked round at his people and then the King smiled at them. The grey Queen was just about to ask what the Mist trolls were waiting for when Branch stood up, he held out a hand to Poppy and said to her. "Would you lead the first dance of the afternoon with me?"

The grey troll could feel herself blushing but she gave Branch a nod, Poppy was glad that he had chosen her over Silver, quickly the Queen placed her hand into his and Branch helped her up onto her feet. Smiling at her the blue troll walked with Poppy passed the Mist trolls, they fell back to make a space for the two royal trolls to dance in and the Mist troll musicians started to play a slow piece of music. Branch carefully guided Poppy through the steps of the dance, slowly but surely other couples started to join them in the clearing dancing to the music following the same steps that Branch and Poppy were performing. The grey troll found herself relaxing into the dance, it was quite clear that the King was going to make sure that she didn't make a fool out of herself in front of all of the other trolls watching them. As this first dance drew to a close Branch escorted Poppy off of the dance floor, the two of them stood side by side at the edge of the dance and the two of them joined in with the dancing a few more times.

Poppy staid with Branch as the celebrations wound down, all of the Mist trolls helped to clear things up, then when this was done the blue troll created the portals of mist again, the Mist trolls made their way back through them to return to their home, the councillors and the oracle went through the portals last all of them bidding Branch a respectful farewell as they went and once the last troll had walked through the portals Branch carefully closed them down behind them. Poppy and Branch with the nine body guards behind them walked back up into the tree, though neither of the two royal trolls said anything to each other the nine guards could sense there was something between them. When they finally made it back to the blue pod were Poppy made her home the Queen turned to look at Branch and said to him. "I really liked listening to you playing your harp earlier…I know you have had a long day but would you play the harp for me tonight?"

Branch smiled at the grey troll and gave her a nod. "I would be honoured. Hopefully it will help us both relax for the evening. My guards do you wish to join us?"

They all shook their heads and Jade as the leader of the guards spoke at this point. "No sire we shall not join Queen Poppy and yourself, we could use some practice with our weapons so we shall go and do so. We know none of the trolls here will harm you and that the Mist beast will protect you, so we feel you shall be safe enough without us for a short while." With this said the guards left Branch and Poppy alone.

Together they went into the blue pod, Poppy sat down on the sofa in the living room, Branch went to the guest room, he returned a few moments later with his harp floating in the embrace of his blue magic, the blue troll's magic settled the harp onto the floor of the pod, he found a chair brought it over to the harp, Branch placed it on the floor so that he would be facing Poppy while he played, the blue troll sat on the chair and then started to play. Poppy listened to the music Branch was playing, for the second time the grey troll found herself admiring his playing, the King truly was very accomplished and his music made her feel so relaxed. As the blue troll was facing Poppy he was well aware of the moment that the Queen fell asleep, Branch brought his music to a stop, he stood up and went over to the grey troll. As he looked down at her while Poppy slept the King felt strange suddenly like he had seen her like this before, quickly Branch shook himself to dislodge this feeling, he seemed to have these odd reactions to Poppy every so often and couldn't work out why this should be the case. Carefully the King lifted the grey troll into his arms, he carried her into the bed room, gently Branch lay Poppy in the bed, he covered her over with the sheets, then before he could stop himself from doing so the blue troll placed a kiss to her forehead and said softly. "Sleep well."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven:

When morning found the pod, Branch was sitting eating breakfast his eyes lost in thought, the blue troll had experienced a strange dream last night and it had him thinking. In the dream he had found himself sapped of colour the same way that Queen Poppy was now, Branch was also in a dark place, as he stood there looking at himself wondering what was going on, when a beautiful female voice had started to sing a song. This song talked about true colours and love, the words of the song touched something deep inside Branch but the troll wasn't quite sure what it was, the King had watched with awe as his colour returned to him as the female voice sung and then he had woken up the words I love you had been on his lips. The guards of the blue troll could tell that something was on his mind, they had tried to talk to Branch about what was bothering him but the King had simply shook his head at them, then he had told them that he he'd had an odd dream which was confusing him but that he would be alright eventually. The blue troll had been saved from any further probing from his friends by Poppy and Peppy coming into the kitchen at that moment. As the Queen looked at Branch sitting at the kitchen table, the grey cheeks of the troll darkened and she said to him. "I'm so sorry that I feel asleep on you last night."

The King smiled at Poppy. "It's alright it had been a long day and I'm glad that you felt relaxed and safe enough around me to fall asleep like that."

The grey troll let out a relived breath that he had not felt insulted by her falling asleep as he had played the harp for her. Poppy went into the kitchen made herself breakfast, before coming back to the table, sitting at it and eating her breakfast. Once the Queen was finished with her food, the grey troll looked at the King sitting next to her and then asked him curiously. "Do you play any other instruments?"

"Only the hand harp and the lyre, though I will admit I have been thinking about learning the lute. I find music relaxing especially if I've had a very busy day and I have found that it helps me to think when I have a problem."

Poppy gave him an understanding nod. "I can understand how you would find that music both helps you to relax and think, it does the same thing for me too. I was wondering if you would like to see the rest of the troll tree today?"

"I would like that." The Mist King assured Poppy with a gentle smile for the pink troll.

After clearing away from breakfast Branch and Poppy, with the King's guards left the blue pod, the Queen took them on a tour of the troll tree, during which the snack pack joined them pointing out things to the winged trolls. Once the tour was over Poppy looked at the blue troll by her side and said to him. "I've been thinking about what I should give to you in exchange for the feather you gave me to represent the peace between us and I have to admit I'm finding it hard to think of anything."

"Poppy you don't need to give me anything."

"Still it is what I should do as the Queen of my people."

"I am sure that if that is the way you truly feel then you will find what you feel you should give to me in return for my gift of peace."

Poppy found that at some point since they had stopped to talk the snack pack and Branch's guards had vanished somewhere. "We appear to be on our own."

"Indeed, that just shows that my guards trust you which is a good thing."

"I'm glad that they trust me." The Queen admitted to Branch.

Side by side, the two trolls carried on walking through the troll tree, a companionable silence hung over Branch and Poppy as they walked along, the grey troll wanted to be able to take the hand of the King and hold it as they walked but she knew that she couldn't. As they walked along the Queen started to think about what she could try to do in order to try and get Branch to remember her again. Poppy first considered singing their song to him, but the grey troll wasn't sure that she would be able to after all she hadn't felt like singing since she had lost her colour. The next thing the Queen considered was dancing with Branch, she had seen before now that doing so seemed to have some effect on the blue troll. Poppy also thought about taking Branch into the forest or to the bunker but she couldn't help but think that his guards wouldn't like that idea and Poppy wouldn't blame them for that. The grey troll realised that they were not far from one of the first places they had ever gone to in the troll tree on a date, the Queen walked them in that direction, when the two of them came out onto the branch with a clear view over Bergan town into the forest Poppy sat down on the branch and gestured next to her. The Mist King settled down on the branch next to her, he looked out over the view laying before them and then said softly to Poppy. "Wow…What an amazing view…Your tree is nothing like ours…It's so colourful…I'll admit I found the pods a little strange to begin with but then that's because we don't make our home in our tree, but for some strange reason I don't find them as strange as I should."

"What is the tree of the Mist like?" Poppy asked him curiously.

"Well it's bark and branches look like silver the leaves are made of mist and the pods for our young grow on the tree."

"It is very different from ours."

"Your home makes me feel strange…Sometimes I feel like I know this place…Like I've forgotten something very important. I mean I know the words of the oracle about me, the King of the Mist would return to the lands of his ancestors broken of heart and scared of soul. There in the mist he will mourn the loss of his soul mate and true love until he uses the mist to swallow the memories of the pain in his heart and numb the aching of the scar on his soul…I wonder who that trolls was a lot of the time, why they hurt me so badly and now I'm reacting to you and to this place…" Branch stopped talking and chuckled slightly. "I must sound so strange talking like that."

"Actually I also know the prophecy about you, so I understand what you are saying to me King Branch." Poppy admitted.

The blue troll gave her a startled look. "I didn't know anyone outside of the Mist islands knew of the words of the oracle concerning me."

The grey troll explained her knowledge to Branch. "The words of the oracle is a story that we are told as young trolls."

"I see…My reactions to you and to this tree make me wonder, if this place and you are somehow connected to what I have lost…But would remembering do me any good? Once I would have said no but now I think maybe what I have forgotten is something I should try to reach for…I had a dream last night but now I'm not sure that's all it was."

"Oh, what did you dream about?" Poppy asked truly wanting to hear what Branch had to say.

The blue troll told the Queen about his dream, the grey troll knew exactly what song he was talking about and what experience Branch was dreaming about. Poppy wanted to tell him but she wasn't sure that he would either believe her or that it would help the blue troll to remember if she told him what the dream was about. "Do you think it might help you remember if you played that song?" Poppy asked him softly trying to hide the hope in her voice.

"I suppose it might…Anything is possible and I won't know until I try playing the song…But I've only heard it the once…"

"Well maybe if you hear it again you can try playing it then."

Branch gave her a nod. "That may well be the case at least I can hope so…I'll have to make sure I concentrate on the music harder if I dream of that song again."

Slowly the two trolls stood up, they started to walk back through the tree the two trolls hadn't walked very far when several younger trolls came across them, they all stopped and turned wide eyed gazes onto the winged Branch. Slowly but bravely a young sunshine yellow troll in a short grass green dress to match her hair came over a little closer to them, she looked up at Branch and smiled at him widely. Poppy found herself smiling slightly as this little troll studied the two tone wings of the King with awe and pleasure. Branch walked the rest of the distance to the yellow troll, he slowly knelt down to her level, the King then smiled at the little yellow troll kindly and asked her. "What is it little one?"

"You have such pretty wings can I touch one?" She asked him shyly.

"You can touch one but please do not pull on my feathers that would be painful for me."

With a happy smile and a nod of her head the yellow troll reached out over one of the Kings shoulders and started stroking one of his wings. "So soft." She said after a few moments.

The King gave her a nod. "Yes they are soft."

After a few more moments, the young troll removed her hand and looked into Branch's eyes. "Can you really use mist to do stuff?"

"Oh yes I can but your people find my power…Scary."

"Why?" The yellow troll child asked as only a child could.

Branch smiled at her. "Because it is one they do not have and do not understand."

"But you don't hurt trolls with your mist, do you?"

"No, not unless they hurt me first."

"Then it's not bad…Show me please!"

The King's smile grew, he noticed other troll children behind this young one obviously as curious as this one but not as brave. "Very well little one but I will only do something small I have no wish to frighten anyone." Branch held up his right hand palm up and open, his fingers curled up slightly. mist began to gather in his hand, it flowed upwards slowly forming into misty butterflies which flew free of his hand and fluttered round the child before dissipating harmlessly into nothing.

The troll child giggled with delight as one of the mist butterflies perched on her arm for a moment and then dissipated. "Another! Please."

Branch looked up from the child and over to were Poppy stood watching him before turning back to the little one. "Alright but only one more, this time though I will show you a special trick. Watch closely." The child and several of the others who had drawn closer after watching him make the butterflies watched. The King placed both of his hands together before him side to side, palms up and open, more mist flowed forward than last time this time. The mist formed a flower, with a closed bud, Branch blew on the bud and it opened to show a perfect mist poppy. The children all gave a chorus of amazed noise but the King was not finished he leant in and placed a kiss to the mist. Suddenly the grey of the stem and leaves became bright verdant green the flower glorious red and black. The children gasped with wonder at the glowing flower made of now coloured mist which hovered just a short distance above Branch's hands.

Slowly the blue troll rose from where he had been kneeling, he brought the mist poppy over to the Queen and held it out to her. Poppy looked wide eyed from it to him and then back again, the King gave her a smile and an encouraging nod. The grey troll reached out a shaking hand, she carefully took hold of the flower and lifted it from Branch's hands. To Poppy holding the mist flower felt a little like holding a feather in her hands, as it was both soft and light. The Queen was surprised that the mist poppy did not dissipate as she had expected it to but staid solid in her hands, with tiny tendrils of mist flowing away from it to curl round her finger. Branch's voice brought her attention back to the blue troll as he said to her softly. "A gift. A flower for the fairest of flowers."

Poppy felt the tears gathering in her eyes. "Thank you…It's beautiful."

The King gently caught a single tear as it leaked out of one corner of her eyes. "I did not mean to make you cry."

"I know you didn't it's just so beautiful. I had no idea you could do such a thing with your abilities."

Branch shrugged at her slightly and then spoke. "The Kings and Queens of the Mists are full of mist and magic as the saying of the of my island kingdom goes. It is both my gift and my curse as it has been for generations of my family and shall be for those who come after me that is the way of things for my line." One he said this the blue troll waved to the children as they walked away from them and the younger trolls waved back to him. Together Poppy and Branch continued on their way back through the tree towards Branch's blue pod, as they walked the grey troll carefully slipped the mist Poppy into her hair and after walking along in silence for a short while the King addressed the Queen at his side. "I have noticed that some of the members of my guards seem to be falling in love with some of your friends."

"I'd noticed that too." Poppy said to him softly.

"I'll admit that I didn't expect Onyx to fall in love with Guy Diamond…And I know Jade is completely in love with Suki, neither of them have said anything to me but then they didn't need to."

The grey troll looked up at the troll by her side. "The ten of you do seem to know each other very well."

"Since they are my body guards, getting to know them and becoming close to them has been a natural thing for me."

"I can see how that might be the case. How hard do you think it will be for you to remember what it is you have lost?" Poppy asked him gently.

Branch thought for a while about the answer to this question and then eventually said to the Queen. "I am not entirely sure, the mist is powerful and protective of me, so I don't think it would be that easy to manage, but I also don't think it is impossible…I think that the right things at the right time would work. As I have said being here with you has already started to wake something up inside me, it makes me nervous but I want to know what happened to me and why…I also wonder what the oracles words to me before I came here mean."

Instantly made curious that the oracle had told the King the grey troll asked him. "What did she say to you?"

Without hesitation Branch recited the words of the oracle to Poppy. "King of the Mist you shall be called, the Queen of the Bright trolls will need your healing skills and you must go to her. Branch my King and friend here in this tree of bright colour you will find your lost heart and soul as well as a love which last all of your life and into the world beyond."

Poppy found herself staring at the other troll for a few moments before saying to the King. "So, you knew coming here what you had forgotten would be found here?"

"No, I thought the oracle meant that the pain I had felt in my heart and soul would be healed here by finding a troll who would be mine now and always…Now thought I know what Silver had seen and what the oracle was trying to tell me. It is not always easy to translate the words of the oracle."

The Queen gave the King at her side a nod of understanding. "I can see how that might be the case. So do you think that we should give the new couples a helping hand?"

Branch chuckled slightly. "No, at least not yet…I think it is best to see how things work out without our interference after all we might not help but make things harder for our friends and personally I don't want that."

When the King and Queen entered the pod a few moments later they found the snack pack and the guards sitting together chatting amicably, Branch and Poppy looked at each other, they shared a shrug and a smile before going over to their friends and joining in with the conversation trying as they talked to their friends not to let onto the fact they had noticed that a there were some romantic relationships starting to bloom between them. The night Poppy took the mist poppy out of her hair and placed it onto her bedside table, the Queen lay in bed and looked at it for a while before she went to sleep a small smile curving up her lips as she did so.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight:

The next few weeks in the troll tree passed peacefully enough, the King of the Mist did the work he needed to for his island home and he also worked on creating a better relationship between his people and the Ice island troll. Branch was still experiencing the same dream as before, the dream still troubled him but he had made a note of the music he could hear in the dream and now he felt he knew it well enough to try playing it. The King hoped that maybe Poppy would be right, that this song would start to open the door to the memories of the love he had lost. Branch had settled down to play the song one afternoon, half way through playing it the blue troll found himself in tears and he didn't know why. The King sat back from his instrument, he sat there staring at it for a long moment, this music definitely moved something deep inside his soul and it made his heart ake in a way which was horribly painful…Branch felt sure now that this music had something to do with the memories he had lost to the mist. As evening drew in around the troll tree, Branch placed his fingers to the strings of his harp once more and started to play the music again. Despite knowing the words of the song which went with this music, the blue troll found it impossible to bring himself to sing them and he didn't understand why this should be the case but Branch was determined to keep trying until he could sing the words of the song as well as play the music.

Poppy meanwhile had become curious about the oracle of the mist and her relationship with Branch, rather than ask the King about it the grey troll asked Jade. The Queen found the guard one evening sitting outside the blue pod she now resided in and settled on the branch next to him. "I wanted to ask you about the oracle…How she works, and her relationship to King Branch."

Jade looked thoughtful for a few moments and then spoke to her. "Well the oracles came about when there was no first born child of the royal mist line but twins, the elder of the two children inherited the power over the mist as they always have but the younger was gifted with visions from the mist to aid her sister. When she married her first born daughter also had this gift and so it has been ever since. As for the relationship between King Branch and Lady Silver, it is a little complicated but then it always is between the ruler and the oracle…You see the oracle gives her visions to the ruler to aid them, but they are also a friend and a confidant to the ruler, but the oracles also understand how lonely it can be for the rulers as they are the only one with the power over the mist and this gives them a special bond which those of us outside of it cannot completely understand…It is a relationship which is akin to that of a brother and a sister."

"I see…Thank you I understand now."

"I am glad I could help you to understand Queen Poppy." Jade told the grey troll.

The Queen stood and walked into the blue pod her eyes lost in thought, at least she now understood why Branch and the oracle were so close. Poppy knew that Silver had received the vision which had brought the one she loved back to her and for that the Queen was grateful of that fact but at the same time Poppy wondered if the oracle had seen her in the vison, because if Silver had done so it might explain why when Branch hadn't been looking she had given Poppy a small understanding smile.

It had been a hectic day for Poppy, the Queen had finally settled on a gift to give to the Mist King in return for the peace gift he had given her. The pink troll had made him a flower it was blue and pink, with an opal like gem in the middle of the flower, Poppy had to admit that she was rather proud of her work. The grey troll wasn't far from Branch's pod when she heard harp music, despite the words being missing the grey troll recognised that music, the blue troll was playing true colours. Poppy froze outside the pod, she just stood there spell bound, listening to him play, she found herself softly whispering the words of the song as the music filled the air around her. The Queen wondered if Branch had finally remembered something, quietly Poppy entered the pod, the blue troll sat at his harp his fingers moved fluidly as he played and his eyes were closed. The expression on the face of the King quickly caught Poppy's attention it was utterly calm yet tears were running down his cheeks. Slowly Branch stopped playing, he didn't open his eyes, the blue troll reached up and wiped the tears away as he said softly. "Again…Why…Why does that song make me cry? Why do I keep dreaming about it?" The King let out a sigh, he opened his eyes and focused on the harp standing in front of him.

"You remembered the music then." Poppy said softly.

Slowly the blue troll looked across the room towards her and he gave her a nod before he spoke. "Yes…I've dreamt of the music often enough now that I know it by heart. There are words that go with the music but every time I try to sing them…I just can't, it's like someone is raking claws through my heart and soul."

"Oh Branch…I never knew a troll could be in that much pain." Poppy said with compassion.

The blue troll sighed and then spoke. "It is probably equal only to your own pain, but I do not feel it as often as you and the mist takes the edge of it for me just as it does for you when I use it on you every morning and evening. The voice I hear singing in the dream haunts me…The voice singing is female…I think it has to be her voice…My soul mate and true love…It feels strange in a way to know that it is true that I had and have a soul mate and true love…Even though I knew that the oracle wouldn't be wrong about that fact is it still feels strange. Torn of heart and scared of soul she may have made me but…But…But I long so deeply for her without even being able to remember her…I think that by using the mist on myself in the way I did that I was trying to move on from her and trying to live my life without her beside me, but to be honest I am not sure it would have ever worked properly…I don't think that I was ever really meant to forget a bond that deep."

"So you are remembering something then…?" The pink troll asked her softly.

The King gave her a small nod. "Yes, I believe the dream is a memory of what I am still not sure…All I have is a lot of darkness, the song and that voice…"

Poppy lay a hand onto his shoulder, he placed his hand over hers and then looked up at the Queen who spoke to him. "I am sorry it is causing you pain…But you said yourself she is important to you so I think it is imperative for you to try and remember her Branch."

"I think you are right Poppy. I have noticed that you haven't said much about the one you have lost yourself? I know your father sent him away and that he is your soul mate and true love but you don't really talk about him."

"I can't talk about him, at times it even hurts too much to even think about him and I worry that if I do either of talk about him or think about him I shall lose my hold onto my determination…That I'll succumb to hopelessness…I just keep trying to hope he will come back, that he will fight what my father said and did to him and return to me."

Slowly Branch stood he kept hold of Poppy's hand, he drew the grey troll into him and held her. "I wish I could bring him back for you."

"Thank you Branch, you have such a compassionate heart."

"I think we should turn this conversation onto something more cheerful." He said softly as he slowly released the Queen from his embrace.

Poppy gave him a nod and said. "That is a good idea, before I heard you playing I was intending to come in here and present you with my peace gift." The grey troll held the flower out to the King, who accepted it from the other troll.

"It's beautiful. I shall make sure it is treasured." Branch said to her.

"I'm glad you like it. I was actually going to ask you about Onyx and Guy…I know you said Onyx is in love with Guy but I don't think that that Guy has any idea of that…Even I had trouble seeing that he was in love with my friend."

"I thought that might be the case…Onyx is quite subtle in the way he approaches things…I wonder if it might be worth be worth telling my guard that he needs to be a little more obvious and bold in his actions if he wants Guy Diamond to notice his feelings."

"It can't hurt." The Queen said with a nod for the King.

The blue troll gave her a nod in return. "I'll have a word with Onyx tomorrow then. I think Jade is close to confessing his feelings to Suki."

Poppy smiled slightly at the King. "I have to admit I have been expecting Jade to say something to Suki about his feelings for her for a little while now. I think those two are going to make such a cute couple."

"Agreed." Branch said returning her small smile with a wider one of his own.

So it was that when the guards of the King made their way into the pod later that day Branch pulled Onyx over to one side and spoke to the sparkling black troll. "My friend, I have seen the way you look at Guy Diamond and noticed the subtle ways you have tried to show your affection, but after being amongst these bright trolls for some time I have come to see that if you wish to draw the attention of one of their kind then you will need to do something a little more obvious my friend."

"I'm not sure what I can do my King."

"Onyx just try telling him how you feel."

The sparkling black troll gave his King and friend a nod, he took a deep breath, then Onyx crossed the pod and took Guys hands into his. The grey sparkling troll jumped, he looked at the hand into his, then to the winged Mist troll holding his hand and then said to him softly but clearly. "Onyx?"

"Guy Diamond…I have found you in my heart."

He frowned at Onyx for a few moments and then slowly his eyes widened. "Are you telling me you love me?"

"Yes, our people tend to be a little more poetic in their wording I apologise…It is clearly not the way of your people but I didn't know how else to express myself."

"No, no please don't appppolllogise it was nice…No one has ever spoken to me likkkkeee that before. Stuuuupppiiid voice…"

Slowly Onyx smiled at Guy. "It's not stupid I think it is cute…I'm just glad you do not find our more poetic ways to old fashioned."

"Not at all." The grey sparkling troll guided Onyx away from the rest of the members of the snack pack and over to one side.

Suki watched them with a smile before she turned her eyes onto Jade, she crossed the room to him, the orange haired troll put her hand to the back of Jades head and brought their lips together in a kiss. As she did this to the unsuspecting Jade the rest of the trolls around them burst out into a combination of cheers and joyful laughter. The King's guard slowly started to kiss Suki back, clearly the two trolls were enjoying this kiss, but despite this the two trolls broke their kiss, Suki and Jade then smiled around at their friend's glad to see them so happy for them. King Branch looked to Queen Poppy and then said. "Well this is a wonderful development don't you think?"

"I do King Branch."

As the grey troll looked at her friend wrapped in the arms of the one she loved the Queen felt a stab of pain in her heart, before Poppy could stop it she let out a cry of pain and instantly Branch was by her side supporting her. The last thing the Queen was aware of was the blue troll calling her name before the darkness closed in on her. Branch effortlessly swung Poppy up into his arms, the snack pack and the guards of the King instantly drew up around them. "Is she…?" Smidge asked the blue troll very softly.

"Yes…I'm afraid so."

"Oh Poppy…" Suki said in a whisper.

The blue troll turned to Cooper and said to him. "Please go and tell King Peppy what has happened."

"Of course." He assured the King before dashing from the pod to go and find the old troll.

Branch carefully carried the Queen from the main room of the pod and into her bedroom, Smidge went ahead of him, the little yellow troll pulled the sheets of the Queens bed down and the blue King carefully slipped her into bed. "How long will it be until…?" Satin asked the blue troll unable to say the last word of her question but she didn't need to Branch knew what the other troll was asking him.

"Originally I would have said three months but Poppy's pain is so great that I think it will be no more than two weeks before she passes away."

None of the trolls could say anything to the words of the healer they knew that he wouldn't be wrong about how long Poppy had left to live now that she had returned to the comatose state. When Peppy arrived at the pod, they all left the room in order to allow their old King some time alone with his daughter. It was several hours later that Peppy came back out of the room in which Poppy lay, his eyes instantly found Branch and he said to him. "I know I don't need to ask you to take the pain from my daughter as she passes but would you play for Poppy…She loves listening to you playing your harp."

"Of course, I shall King Peppy."

"Thank you…We owe you so much King Branch."

The blue troll shook his head. "No, King Peppy you owe me nothing, I am a healer, I give my power and my aid freely to those who need it most." Branch stood, he gathered his harp up within his magic then moved into the bedroom of the Queen and a few moments later the trolls heard his soothing harp music start to play from within the room. The rest of the trolls settled together in the main room of the pod, none of them said anything, Suki cuddled up close to the side of Jade who placed his arm around her and held the orange haired troll tightly and Guy Diamond and Onyx sat together side by side holding hands, while the rest of the snack pack and the King huddled together holding each other.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine:

When morning reached the pod all was quiet, Sage had brought his King breakfast and the blue troll had accepted it gratefully but wordlessly and the guard hadn't felt that he could say anything to his King and friend. Once he had eaten breakfast Branch used his power to sooth the pain from Queen Poppy, he thought about playing his harp for the grey troll, he decided that he would and did so. The blue troll in fact spent the rest of the day in the room of the Queen, he played his harp on and off throughout the day for her knowing that as Peppy had said Poppy loved to hear him play. For some reason which Branch couldn't fathom he found himself playing the music he had heart in his dream to Poppy at least once a day.

A week later Branch was once more sat by the bedside of the grey troll he sighed, Poppy was now clearly losing her battle to live and though his presence had helped to strengthen her in the end the grey troll could not go on without the one she had lost by her side. Gently the King stroked her hair to offer the dying troll what comfort he could and from somewhere he had an over whelming urge to sing to her so Branch did.

"Hush, hush,

The day is done.

Hush hush,

The night has come.

The moon sails across the sky,

A ship of dreams,

On which we can fly.

Hush, hush

The day is done.

Hush, hush,

The night has come.

The stars are diamonds in the sky

They will glow to light your way

A light of hope that will never lie.

Hush, hush,

The day is done.

Hush, hush

The night has come.

When you dream you will shine,

You will be a star like no other

I know in your dreams will be mine."

The blue King was so involved in his song that he is completely unaware of his body guards, the snack pack and Peppy standing in the doorway listening to him as he sang this song. Suki suddenly noticed that the mist was starting to appear around Branch and that it was forming chains round him coming from his heart. The orange haired troll realised what these chains represented in a blinding flash of inspiration, quickly Suki moved forward, she made a grab for one of the chains and found it was solid under her touch. The DJ pulled hard on the chain, it snapped, Branch turned in her direction his eyes full of pain, but before the King could react the snack pack descended on him and his body guards didn't stop them, they didn't know why but they knew what the snack pack was doing to their King was something which they shouldn't stop from occurring but they did know it. So instead of stopping them the ten guards instead watched as the snack pack started pulling on the rest of the mist chains until they one by one broke from their King's body. It was Peppy who spotted the one pink chain amongst the others, the old troll surged forward, he reached past the snack pack grabbed the pink coloured chain and pulled on it with all of his might. Peppy fell backwards onto the floor as the chain broke, Branch closed his eyes, clutched his head, then screamed just like he had on the day his wings first appeared and the same force rippled out of him past the other trolls in the room.

The snack pack quickly backed away from the Mist King, lifting Peppy and taking him with them as they went. Slowly the blue troll's hands dropped from his head, the blue eyes of the King opened, they focused on the form of the grey troll in the bed before him and his eyes widened. "Poppy…" The name fell from his lips in a soft loving tone. "Oh Poppy…" Gently the blue troll pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm here my love, I remember…"

"Please…" Peppy began causing the blue troll to turn and look at him, the old troll moved away from the snack pack, he got down on his knees before the King of the Mist, bowed his body to the floor and looked up at the blue troll. Branch, his guards and the Snack pack all took a shocked breath, this was formal behaviour but they all knew what it meant, Peppy was humbling himself before Branch it was the ultimate apology for a troll. "Please Branch great King of the Mist, my daughters true love and soul mate, please save Poppy."

Branch turned back to the grey troll, he brought one of her hands out from under the sheets and held it between his own. As soon as the King did this mist filled the room shaped as spiralling tendrils, all of them were glowing blue, they reached out embracing Poppy so gently that it brought tears to Peppy's eyes and he wondered why had he ever called Branch a freak? He might be powerful but the blue troll was tender and unique, he also quite clearly loved Poppy with all of his heart and soul. The King rose from the chair at the Queen's bedside, he started to try to take his robe and under top off one handed, Satin moved forward quickly she started to help Branch. "Let me do this, you concentrate on whatever it is you need to do to save Poppy."

The blue troll smiled at her with thanks, when it came time for Satin to remove the last part of his over robe and under top Branch carefully moved the grey trolls hand from one of his to the other so he didn't brake contact with Poppy. Now clad in only his trousers Branch climbed into bed beside Poppy, he let go of the Queens hand for only a moment before he carefully but quickly pulled her into his arms and held her close to him. Peppy slowly got to his feet, the former King the snack pack and his guards watched in silence as the wings of the Mist King closed round the couple hiding them from view. Suki started soundlessly ushering everyone from the room, once they were all outside the DJ took one last look back at the room. It was a beautiful sight, full of the swirling, glowing blue mist and blue glittering particles of light which looked like tiny blue stars. Then in the centre of the room on the bed lay the cocoon of the Kings wings and body holding their Queen both of which Suki noticed were now also glowing blue along with his darker blue hair. Quietly but firmly the DJ closed the door on the magical sight, all they could do now was wait and pray that Branch could do as he had done before and bring Poppy back to them.

Branch gently ran his fingers through Poppy's grey hair. "Poppy my love please open your eyes, I'm right here and I'm not going to leave you again." He placed a kiss to her forehead and then to her lips. "Poppy, my flower…Don't give up on me not now…Not now I'm here and I remember you. The pain I put you through…The pain your father put us both through. I love you Poppy, I will always love you." Slowly the grey troll in his arms started to turn pink, she also started glowing at the same time and Branch smiled down at her glad to see this change occurring to the one he loved. "That's it Poppy…Maybe I should sing our song to you, I know how much you love to hear me sing." The blue troll started to sing their song true colours to the one he loved, as he sang the colour in the Queen spread until Poppy was glowing bright pink in his arms.

As the blue troll finished their song the now pink troll slowly opened her eyes, they widened with surprise as the Queen realised who was holding her and Branch smiled at the one he loved. "Branch…"

"Hello my love." He said to her softly.

"You remember…" Poppy whispered her voice full of awe and relief.

The blue troll gave her a nod before confirming. "I remember…I'm so sorry, I put you through so much pain."

The pink troll shook her head at him. "It wasn't your fault, it was my father who sent you away."

"I think Peppy has learnt a lot from his actions." The King told the Queen his voice soft.

"I think so too. I love you Branch."

"I love you too Poppy." When he had said this the blue troll kissed Poppy gently on the lips not wanting to over whelm her at this time. The pink troll had other ideas though, she placed one of her hands into his hair, the Queen deepen the kiss and slowly but surely Branch responded to this. They both closed their eyes, the couple moved closer, they held each other tightly neither one wanting to let go of the other and Poppy then pressed her free hand to the skin of Branch's back loving the feeling of it under her finger tips. Slowly the two trolls came up for air, breathing hard the King and Queen opened their eyes and the couple shared a smile. Then Poppy looked away from Branch's eyes, she moved her hand from his back she reached out and then gently stroked the one of the wings of the king. The blue troll shuddered slightly with pleasure, before he said softly to the Queen in his arms. "That feels so nice."

"Good I'm glad to hear you say that." Poppy said to him as she continued to stroke her hand over the wing for a few more moments before drawing her had away from them and saying to Branch with reluctance clear in her voice. "I suppose we should really let the others know that I am alright."

"Yes they are very worried about you…" As he spoke Branch slowly moved his wings back, Poppy hated losing the feeling of his wings around her and let out a noise of discontent.

As the blue troll looked at the Queen with confusion, Poppy explained the noise she had made to him. "I miss the feeling of your wings around me…"

The King blushed. "Oh I see, it's good to know you like my wings."

"Branch I don't just like your wings, I think they are magnificent." The pink troll said to him with complete honesty.

The blush on Branch's face grew, but he slowly released Poppy from his embrace whilst she reluctantly also let go of the King. Slowly the blue troll got out of the bed and onto his feet, he turned back to the Queen he held out a hand to Poppy, smiling at Branch the pink troll took his hand and let the one she loved help her up onto her feet. As she looked at the King Poppy had the over whelming urge to climb back into his arms and cling to Branch again, but instead of doing this the pink troll took his hand into hers holding it tightly. The King gave the one he loved an understanding smile, then together they left the bedroom and came into the main room of the pod. As they entered the room all of the trolls in the room looked up, when they noticed Poppy standing next to Branch and that she was now pink as well as awake the snack pack and her father were instantly on their feet. The trolls thronged towards the Queen and the King, then they were hugging them both, they were all crying with relief, laughing with joy and talking all at once. Poppy quickly returned their embraces and then said to them. "I'm fine thanks to Branch. Speaking of which dad, I have something I wish to say to you."

"Yes Poppy what is it?" Peppy said a nervous edge to his voice as he asked this simple question.

"I will be marrying Branch and I don't want to hear anything said against it dad, do you understand me?"

"I understand daughter…And I have no intention of standing between the two of you ever again." The old troll promised his child faithfully. "In fact, if you will both give me just a moment?" The two trolls gave him a nod, Peppy went into Poppy's room where he was keeping his things during his nights in the pod with his daughter and he returned from the room a few moments later with a golden cord in his hands. "Would the two of you face each other and hold hands again please?"

Now completely confused as to what was going on here, the blue troll and pink troll did as Peppy asked them to, once they had done as the old King had requested, Peppy carefully wound the golden cord around their joined hands, he then tied in together in a simple knot and as he did this Poppy realised what her father was doing. "Oh…" She said softly but joyfully.

Branch caught her eyes and the King gave the one he loved a confused look, but before Poppy could explain anything, Peppy had placed his hands on top of theirs, he looked to Branch and addressed him very formally. "Branch King of the Mist islands, as I know true love exists between you both and as I have seen that you are both soul mates I give to you my daughter as your wife. Will you take her as your wife?"

With wide eyes the blue troll answered this question. "Yes, I will take Queen Poppy to be my wife."

"Poppy my daughter and Queen of the trolls of this tree will you take King Branch your soul mate and true love as your husband?"

The pink troll smiled widely at Branch and then answered her father's question. "Yes, I will take King Branch to be my husband."

"Then as the former King of the trolls of this tree I declare that you are now husband and wife. None shall ever part you again."

As soon as Peppy said this the two trolls he had just married shared a smile, it was at this point the old troll took his hands off their joined ones. Then Branch still with their hands bound together quickly kissed his new wife on the lips, swiftly Poppy responded to this kissing him back, their love for each other clear for all those in the pod to see as they kissed. Slowly the two trolls broke the kiss, it was at this moment that Peppy unbound their hands, he then presented the gold cord to King Branch bowing respectfully to him as he did so. "Congratulations on your marriage your majesties."

The blue troll accepted the cord from the old troll with a bow of his head, Branch then swept Poppy up and carried her out of the main room back into the bedroom. Those present at this unexpected wedding shared smiles, they all left the pod of the newly married couple having no intention of interrupting them at this time. Peppy decided to go back to his own pod and leave the snack pack and the Mist King's guards to spread the news of Poppy's recovery and marriage to Branch around the rest of the troll tree and to the Bergan's. As for the snack pack and the guards of the King, the snack pack where quick to offer them their spare rooms in their pods for what remained of the day and that night and in the case of Onyx and Guy Diamond, Jade and Suki they were more than happy to have those they loved in their pods with them for the rest of the day and that night.

It was to none of the troll's surprise that the newly married couple didn't surface for several days, or that when they did Poppy looked as though she were floating on air and Branch looked as though he were the happiest troll in existence. When the blue troll was informed of the part that the Bergan's and Moss had played in bringing him back to the troll tree and therefore bringing him and Poppy back together the King had thanked them all whole heartedly for all of their help. The blue troll soon discovered that Moss, Bridget, Gristle and all of the Bergan's were glad he was back and that Poppy had been healed thanks to his return to her life.

Two weeks after they had been married Branch sat Poppy down in the main room of his pod and settled on the sofa next to her. "Poppy I promised my people that one you had become well again I would return to them, I don't wish to break my word to my people but I know your people need you as well. So I had hoped you would be willing to return with me to the mist so my people can meet their new Queen…Now as you know I can create things with my mist, my intention is to create a mist bowl from the mist for your father and our friends, so that they will be able to communicate with us whenever they should need to. Since I can crate mist portals as and when I need to, getting back here quickly should it be necessary would be no problem I am hoping that knowing all of this you will agree to come to my home with me for a little while."

Poppy took both of Branch's hands into hers and spoke to him. "Of course, you need to return to your own lands, your people have been without you for quite some time and I shall go with you my love, I am after all your wife and Queen. The fact we can use the mist to come back here anytime we need to is a wonderful thing to know and I am also glad to hear that you have been thinking of a way to communicate with my father and friends, it makes me feel much more comfortable with joining you on a trip back to the Mist islands."

"Good I am glad to hear you say that, shall we go and talk to your father, my guards and our friends then?"

"Yes lets."

The young royal couple spoke to all of the trolls who would be effected by their decision, when they had finished talking Jade took Suki's hand into his and addressed his King. "I hope you will have no objection to my bringing my girlfriend with me?"

"Of course not and before you ask Onyx I have no objection to you bringing Guy Diamond with you." This couple smiled at the blue troll.

"Thank you sire." Onyx said politely to Branch.

The blue troll carefully created two mist bowls, he gave one to Peppy and one to Smidge and then explained how to use them. "Just pass your hand over the bowl, then say my name and I will answer you."

"Cool!" Smidge said looking at the bowl made of mist.

"When will you set off back to the mist islands?" Peppy asked the young couple.

Branch looked down at his new wife as he said. "As soon as Poppy is ready."

"That shouldn't take me to long a couple of days or so." The pink troll assured the one she loved.

Sure enough three days later Branch was opening a portal of mist to his homeland, Poppy stood by his side, the King's guards were gathered around the royal couple and with them was Guy Diamond and Suki both of who were holding the hands of those they loved. Once the blue troll was sure that the mist portal was ready the King led Poppy through it and into the room which lay beyond it. Poppy looked around with awe at the room she found herself in, it was a lot like the Bergan castle but much brighter and smaller. Once all of the trolls were in the room Branch closed the mist portal down, he then introduced Poppy to all of the councillors and then to the oracle once more. Silver approached the pink troll standing at her King's side, she smiled at Poppy and then took the Queen's hands into hers. "It is lovely to meet you at last soul mate and true love of my King."

"It is good to meet you too Silver, Branch has always spoken highly of you."

The blue troll could already tell that his wife and Silver were going to get on well, Poppy and Branch went of a tour of his kingdom, the King showed the one he loved the village where he had first made his home. Poppy had to admit that the Mist islands were beautiful, the people were welcoming of their new Queen and they were happy to see that their King had met his true love and soul mate. After this first visit back to the island home of the blue troll the royal couple would travel back and forth between the two Kingdoms using the mist to make travel easy. Jade and Suki were married a year and a half after Branch and Poppy, Onyx and Guy Diamond married another three months after them. Two years after they had married the royal couple welcomed their son into the world, they named him Sapphire, just he like his father Sapphire had inherited the wings and powers of the mist just as Poppy and Branch had known he would.


End file.
